Making toys fun again

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Parents of small children can now start being more confident that the toys they buy will be safer than in the recent past.

Legislation that sets the toughest regulations in the world for lead content in toys, and also strengthens the Consumer Product Safety Commission, was signed into law Thursday by President Bush.

Congress wrote the legislation in response to last year’s massive toy recalls. Tens of millions of toys, most made in China, were discovered to contain dangerously high amounts of lead or to be unsafe in other ways. Horror stories about children dying or being harmed by exposure to toys spurred Congress into action.

At the center of Congress’ attention was the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which over several presidential administrations had dwindled in size and priority. When it was created in 1973, it had nearly 800 employees. By last year it was down to 420.

The agency’s steady weakening coincided with years in which the number of imported products exploded. It was just a matter of time before disaster struck.

Under the new law, the size of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s budget will double by 2014 — to $136 million. Considering just the number of foreign products flooding U.S. markets, let alone domestically produced products, this will still be a small budget for the critically important job at hand.

Nevertheless, it represents a vast improvement. The increase will enable, for example, laboratory testing of toys for young children to ensure they contain no more than minute traces of lead — one of several improved safety standards the new law requires.

The new law also gives the agency teeth, enabling it to impose fines on manufacturers that violate standards. It also directs the agency to set up a public database for recording complaints about products.

Congress, future administrations and consumers now have a responsibility to ensure that all of the provisions of the new law continue to be met, so that the agency never again slips into life-threatening obscurity.