By Kenneth J. Theisen, 7/20/07
Readers of this site are aware of many actions taken by the
Bush regime that cost lives. But now the
inaction of the regime will put lives in danger, including the lives of
children. Since July 2006, President
Bush has failed to fill a vacancy on the three-person Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC). The CPSC is charged
with ensuring that consumer products marketed in the U.S. are safe to use. But because the Commission does not have a
quorum of three members it is not able to mandate product recalls or levy fines
for unsafe products. Commissioners must
be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The Consumer Product Safety Act allows two commissioners to
conduct business for six months after a third commissioner resigns. But after
six months, the CPSC cannot take action on regulatory matters or levy civil
penalties until the vacancy is filled.
January 15, 2007 was six months after the loss of the last commissioner.
Bush nominated Michael Baroody in March of this year to fill
the vacancy. But this nomination was the
proverbial fox guarding the chicken house.
Baroody, like many of the Bush nominees to regulatory bodies, was on the
opposing side in his former job with the National Association of Manufacturers
(NAM). He was employed as a manufacturing-industry lobbyist who had
regularly opposed product safety rules and regulation.
In May, just before his Senate confirmation hearing, Baroody
withdrew from consideration for the CPSC job.
The Senate Committee had asked him to provide a copy of his severance
agreement with NAM
and it appears he did not want to reveal the interesting details of that
agreement.
But that did not stop Bush from crippling the
commission. It appears that Bush has
found a new way to keep the CPSC from keeping unsafe products off the
market. By keeping the position vacant
he has virtually stopped the Commission.
A White House spokesman has stated there is no information on whom the
president might nominate to fill the vacancy or even when a nomination might be
put forward. This is even better than
having a friendly fox in the hen house.
Bush is just starving the chickens. There is nothing keeping him from
letting the vacancy exist as long as he is president. He is not required to fill the position at
all and he appears to be in no hurry to do so.
Why should we care?
For one thing, many unsafe products are marketed each year in the U.S. and this
vacancy will just increase the problem.
Unsafe products are marketed even when the CPSC is fully operating, but
now there are no safeguards that can be enforced by the CPSC. Unsafe toys painted with lead paint which
cause brain damage and even death to children who may ingest it; ATV vehicles
marketed to children that easily rollover and kill the child driver; and infant
clothing that catch fire easily, now will have an easier time being sold here
in the U.S. But what are the lives of children worth
compared to the profits of corporations that support the Bush regime? Lives are
cheap, profits are sacrosanct.