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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
What Happens to All Those Recalled Products?
Numerous product recalls in 2007, often involving items regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, have been well-publicized. But as the Los Angeles Times reports today, the announcement of a recall is not the end of the story.
In a recent Senate hearing, Toys 'R' Us CEO Jerry Storch discussed his company's system for ensuring recalled products are not sold to consumers. The company uses bar codes to prevent potentially dangerous products from leaving its warehouses or from being purchased at registers.
But what about products that consumers have already purchased? Low public awareness is a major impediment to effective recalls, according to the LA Times. When consumers are aware of recalls, they may be more inclined to simply throw away defective products, rather than return them to the manufacturer.
In the article, CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson is upfront about the difficulty: "We do a very good job of getting dangerous products off store shelves, but our greater challenge is to get dangerous products out of people's homes."
Yesterday, Congress took a step in the right direction. The House passed a bill (H.R. 1699) which would require manufacturers of "durable" children's products, e.g. cribs and high chairs, to include product registration cards. If consumers turn in these cards, they would receive recall notices in the mail should a problem with the product arise. The policy is modeled after the system currently in place for car seats.
Other advocates would prefer CPSC to develop a system closer to that of auto regulators:
Vehicle recall response rates are among the highest, at about 72% in recent years, said Eric Bolton, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"The rest of the consumer product system has never set up its own system and hasn't been required to do so," said Joan Claybrook, former head of the national traffic safety board and now president of the Public Citizen safety and consumer rights lobbying group in Washington. "The system itself is defective."
Lack of publicly available information is also an issue making it more difficult for advocates and concerned citizens to uncover problems:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission does not release statistics on the number of products returned by consumers. Reports submitted to a House subcommittee last month by 19 national retailers involved in lead-paint recalls revealed that only small percentages of items were being returned.
Posted by Matt Madia
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