I cranked out emails to my Congressman and Senators regarding CPSIA and the harm it will do to crafters. I was very careful to detail my concerns regarding the issue and to ask each legislator to consider doing what they can to address the situation. I am a member of their constituency; I expect some staff member to at least read my correspondence and provide an appropriate response. I’m a little irritated because I didn’t really get an appropriate response from the office of Sen. Benjamin Cardin. I’ve pasted it, in its entirety below: you can tell that someone saw the acronym CPSIA and assumed I was writing in support of the act. I’m disappointed in this response.

Dear Ms. Bram:

Thank you for contacting me about the importance of ensuring that consumer products meet basic safety standards.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was created in 1972 by Congress and began operating in 1973. For the last thirty -five years, the CPSC has been charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The CPSC protection efforts have decreased the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products by thirty percent . Such deaths, injuries and property damage cost the nation more than $800 billion annually.

I am in agreement with you that manufacturers, importers and retailers should be held accountable for the products they import and sell , and I support consumer product safety reform. Consumer products such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals should not pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or injure children. Parents and grandparents deserve to be confident that the products they bring into their home are safe.

For these reasons, I sponsored two amendments to H.R. 4040.

The first amendment requires the CPSC to develop training standards for the safety inspectors and technical personnel. The second provision, co-sponsored with Senator Barack Obama , standardizes recall information on products deemed unsafe – including where the products were sold, where they were produced, and how consumers can obtain a refund or replacement . T his provision was included in Section 214 of the final bill enacted this year .

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was introduced by Representative Bobby Rush in 2007. H.R. 4040 provides greater protection for children’s products, improve s the screening of noncompliant consumer products, and improves the effectiveness of consumer product recall programs. Specifically, H.R. 4040 would require mandatory third-party testing of children’s products and lowers the standard for lead in products from 600 parts per million to 100 parts per million.

Hearings on were held by the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government in April 2008. T he house passed H.R. 4040 by a vote of 401-0 on July 30, 2008 , and i t was forwarded to the Senate. I voted for H.R. 4040 and the Senate passed it by a vote of 89-3 the next day. On August 14, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 became Public Law No. 110-314.

Please be assured that I will continue to work to ensure the safety of consumer products and support efforts to increase resources and funding for the CPSC. Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue. Please feel free to do so about this or any other matter of importance to you.