She’s one to talk

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 | 2:09 a.m.

Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord this week scolded the toy industry for recalls involving lead-tainted toys, saying they showed the industry was not monitoring the quality of its products.

The Associated Press reports that during her speech at the American International Toy Fair trade show Monday, Nord told toy makers she was “very angry” over the recalls and said she “will not tolerate this industry ... not complying with our regulations.”

But Nord should have started her scolding last summer in front of a mirror.

In August, Congress gave the commission temporary authority to enact stiffer product safety rules and to pursue rule breakers in court. The commission had lost the authority to do those things in July 2006, when the resignation of its chairman left the commission without the quorum needed to make such decisions. Nord has been acting chairwoman since that time.

Congress’ temporary extension expired Feb. 3 a date by which Nord’s agency still had not taken action against lead in toys, including banning lead in children’s jewelry. A commission spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal the agency’s researchers hadn’t had enough time to complete the studies needed.

Not enough time? In 2003 the near-fatal lead poisoning of an Oregon boy prompted a federal recall of 150 million vending machine toys made in India. The dangers of lead and the fact that it is used in inexpensive imported toys are hardly new information.

Certainly, responsible toy makers should know better than to use poisonous substances in children’s playthings and should not need commission penalties to make them do what’s right.

But clearly Nord is not the person who should be delivering this message. It’s like the coyote telling the fox to stay out of the henhouse.

Nord’s misdirected anger doesn’t change the fact that instead of taking advantage of the special powers granted by Congress, the agency has on her watch frittered away the time it should have spent ensuring that children’s toys are safe.