CPSC Stopped About 647,000 Unsafe Products from Entering the US During 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2012

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, Consumer Product Safety Commission port investigators and US Customs Border Protection agents have stopped nearly 650,000 units (of approximately 240 different noncomplying products) from entering the country and reaching consumers. They screened over 2,900 shipments at ports of entry throughout the country and pulled the items that they determined were unsafe and/or violated US safety rules.
Most of the products that the agents and inspectors halted were for children (527,950 units). Some of the reasons they didn’t make it through included lead paint violations, small parts, phthalates, which are banned from child products, tracking label violations, misbranding, and other violations involving art materials, battery-operated toys, baby walkers, magnets, baby rattles, clacker balls, and toys with sharp points or chemical hazards. Adult products (119,410) that were stopped included holiday lights, hair dryers, lighters, luminaries, fireworks, and bicycles.
In fiscal year 2011, the federal safety agency had examined over 9,900 product shipments at US ports. Nearly 4.5 million units of products considered hazardous or violative were stopped from reaching consumers.
Products Liability
At The Gilbert Law Group®, our products liability lawyers have the skills and experience to represent children and adults injured by defective products, including dangerous or hazardous toys, appliances, furniture, electrical products, recreational equipment, and accessories. Even though the CPSC works hard to prevent manufacturers and distributors from producing and bringing unsafe products into the marketplace, it is obvious from the number of recalls that continue to be announced every month that there are many unsafe units that still manage to make their way in, posing a serious injury and health risk to consumers.
This month alone there have been over 10 products recalled already over fire dangers, fall hazards, fingertip amputation and laceration risks, and suffocation and entrapment dangers. Recalled items included approximately 16,700 Rockland Furniture Drop-side cribs for the usual strangulation, suffocation, and entrapment hazards posed by this type of design, about 40,000 Topeak Babyseat II Bicycle Carrier Seats (the grab bar’s hinge mechanism can cause fingertip amputation and laceration injuries), around 2,000 Viking dishwashers due to an electrical issue that may cause them to overheat and start a fire, and more than 307,000 Office Depot® Brand Biella Leather Desk Chairs that can cause fall injuries should the chair to come off its base. Already there have been several reports of minor injuries.
Port Surveillance News: CPSC Investigators Find, Stop Nearly 650,000 Unsafe Products at the Start of Fiscal Year 2012, CPSC, April 5, 2012
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