CPSC Offers survival tips for after Hurricane Florence
September 13, 2018, cpsc.gov
Hundreds of thousands of consumers have already lost power due to Hurricane Florence, and that could climb to millions over the next few days. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning residents in hurricane-impacted areas about the deadly dangers that exist during and after the storm. “The aftermath of the storm is very dangerous and consumers need to take appropriate safety precautions to keep their families safe,” says CPSC Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle. During power outages, the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fire increase.

Toxic flame retardant ban heads to governor for signature
September 10, 2018, LA Weekly
After years of campaigning by various groups, more than two-thirds of furniture manufacturers have phased out toxic flame retardant. Advocates are now applauding an historic victory when AB 2998 sponsored by Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica) passed out of the Assembly with bipartisan support. With some exemptions and compromises, the bill bans the sale of toxic flame-retardant chemicals in furniture, mattresses and juvenile products.

 WSU researchers say BPA alternatives used in plastics may pose health risks
September 13, 2018, Seattle Times
Twenty years ago, a Washington State University researcher discovered genetic abnormalities in laboratory mice after they were accidentally exposed to the chemical bisphenol A, known as BPA, commonly found in plastic products. Now, Patricia Hunt and her colleagues have found that alternatives to the chemical are also causing genetic abnormalities in mice — and may also threaten human reproductive health. “We stumbled on an effect yet again,” says Dr. Hunt, a WSU professor who authored a study on the subject.

Test Yourself: SPSP offers sample questions for professional certification assessment
September 13, 2018, Society of Product Safety Professionals
Product safety professionals have been eyeing a new professional certification program in their field since it was first announced in 2017. The program will be launched in 2019, and the Society of Product Safety Professionals has provided a glimpse at the type of multiple-choice questions that will constitute one section of an assessment that will result in a new credential conferred by SPSP, Certified Product Safety Professional™ for those who successfully complete the program.

CPSC Webinar: Certificates of Conformity (CPCs/GCCs)
September 14, 2018, cpsc.gov
Stakeholders are invited to take part in a 60 minute webinar from CPSC on Certificates of Conformity: Children’s Product Certificates (CPCs) and General Certificates of Conformity (GCCs.). The webinar, which requires registration, is presented by the agency’s small business ombudsman.

New York To Phase Out Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Thumbs Nose At Trump Administration
September 14, 2018, Clean Technica
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced this week that his administration will phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), one of the most powerful climate pollutants on earth. By directing the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to promulgate regulations to remove HFCs from common use, Cuomo is contravening Trump administration federal mandates not to regulate HFCs. In August of 2017, a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court decreed that the EPA had overstepped its authority in regulating HFCs under the Clean Air Act. The ruling seemed to leave the US without an immediate legal mechanism to control HFCs, which amount to about 3% of US climate pollution — that is, until Cuomo stepped up in New York.

FTC Compliance Lawyer on Agency Settlement of Deceptive “Made in USA” Claims
September 14, 2018, National Law Review (Hinch Newman LLP)
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that that companies selling hockey pucks and recreational and outdoor equipment have agreed to cease making bogus “Made in USA” claims. According to the Commission, four related New York-based companies, and two commonly controlled California companies, falsely represented that all, or virtually all, products sold are made in the U.S.

Federal privacy regulations usher in the age of tech lawmakers
September 13, 2018, Tech Target
Tech companies that have successfully lobbied against stricter privacy regulations are facing pushback from consumers on their latest campaign to curtail data privacy rights.
Big tech’s call for federal regulation comes amid a reactionary call for privacy rights, as data breach media coverage has exposed companies poor management of personal information and piqued consumers’ data protection concerns.

Where the U.S. and Canada differ on NAFTA
September 5, 2018, Indian Express
Washington and Ottawa pulled back from a standoff that threatened to end in Canada’s exclusion from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral arrangement that includes Mexico. The Trump administration informed Congress that the President intended to “sign a (revised) trade agreement with Mexico — and Canada, if it is willing — 90 days from now”.

 Laser leaving mark on product identification
September 14, 2018, Engineering News
Various industries are becoming increasingly aware of product identification solutions, owing to the upsurge of counterfeit products entering the local market from the Far East, says identification and traceability company Traceability Solutions MD Kelby Parker. This has resulted in a growing demand for reliable, unique and permanent marks on products, which provides them with brand protection, he tells Engineering News, adding that laser marking eliminates the need for costly consumables and printing.

CPSC 2017 Annual Report: Consumer products cause or contribute to 8,000 fatalities
August, 2018, cpsc.gov
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued its 2017 Annual Report last week, outlining the number of consumer product-related deaths, injuries and emergency department visits for Congress. The report summarizes the products most prone to cause harm to consumers and where better regulation is needed. CPSC researchers collected national data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia,a and found that about 8,000 individuals were killed last year in consumer product related incidents. Dividing products into 15 categories, researchers found that Sports and Recreational Activities and Equipment accounted for nearly 1,500 fatalities and Home Furnishings and Fixtures accounted for nearly 1,200 fatalities.

California may NOT put cancer warning labels on coffee: State regulator tells court to reverse the ruling because there is no evidence of a link
August 16, 2018, Daily Mail
Months after a California court ruled that all cafes had to put cancer warnings on coffee, the state’s top health hazard agency has blocked the move. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), in charge of regulating food and drink, issued a statement this week saying coffee has no significant cancer risk. It comes on the heels of a report by the influential International Agency for Research on Cancer, which found that coffee is not cancerous – and even lowers the risk of some cancers.

Texas leads the nation in child drownings
August 7, 2018, WBAP
Texas leads the nation with the most child drowning’s in 2018 with 28 deadly accidents so far, eight of which occurred in July. Nikki Fleming with the Pool Safety Campaign urges parents to watch their children whenever they’re near or in the water and to follow the pool safety steps to prevent more drownings as temperatures rise and families spend more time in the water. A CPSC information campaign offers steps to safety.

Illinois Inspectors Check Safety by Climbing Over, Under Fair Rides
August 13, 2018, Claims Journal
Inspectors crawl up, over and around about 4,000 rides a year at various amusement parks, street fairs, and carnivals looking for anything amiss that could lead to injury.
Incidents such as one in July 2017 at the Ohio State Fair, in which a car came loose from a whirling ride, killing one and injuring seven, are cataclysmic and make tragic headlines. But injuries on amusement-park rides are “a rare event,” said Ken Kolosh, statistics manager for the National Safety Council . The CPSC estimates there were 29,400 emergency room visits related to amusement park attractions in 2017.

Happy 10^th Birthday to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act
August 14, 2018, Union of Concerned Scientists (Blog)
Since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) became law, it has done a number of things to protect children from exposure to lead in toys and other items, improved the safety standards for cribs and other infant and toddler products, and created the saferproducts.gov database so that consumers have a place to go for research on certain products or reporting safety hazards and negative experiences. A consumer advocate and expectant mom blogs “Today, along with a group of other consumer and public health advocacy organizations, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the passage of this law.”

Saint Louis University opens registration for professional product safety professional certification
August 20, 2018, EIN
The Emerson Leadership Institute (ELI) at Saint Louis University’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business has opened the registration period for candidates seeking admittance to the Consumer Product Safety Professional Certification program that has been developed at ELI in association with two consumer product safety professional development organizations. The organizations are the Society of Product Safety Professionals (SPSP), established to provide professional development programs and education for consumer product safety professionals. and SPSP affiliate, Consumer Product Safety Certification Services (CPSCS), an independent certification oversight organization for the consumer product safety field.   The program will begin with a 3-day opening workshop at the Chaifetz School January 16, 2019 and will conclude after a series of webinars on product safety topics followed by an examination period May 6-8, 2019, on campus. Successful completion of the program will result in the successful candidates being designated a Certified Consumer Product Safety Professional™.

Health Canada warns buyers of second hand baby products, baby walkers ban
August 14, 2018, Pembina Valley online
While buying second-hand items could save you money, Health Canada also warns your garage sale gems also come with a risk, especially when it comes to products made for children.
Product Safety Officer Rose Gueret cautions buyers when wading into street sales, free giveaway weekends, flea markets, second-hand stores, to make sure products meet current regulatory or safety requirements. She recommends checking cribs and car seats for a label to verify the manufacturer, model number and date of manufacture. “Ask questions, every product has a history” she says, adding it’s important to ask whether the item has been repaired.

Professional Development: Free product safety webinar series offers information, knowledge
August 17, 2018, Society of Product Safety Professionals
This webinar from the Society of Product Safety Professionals will cover the five key areas that every well-rounded product safety professional should know: 1) Ensuring a corporate culture of compliance, 2) Understanding product assurance methods, 3) Compliance with laws and standards,  4) Incident Management, and 5) Managing Recalls. The webinar instructor is Tim Cassidy, Director of Product Compliance and Safety for Best Buy Co., Inc., the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer.

Webinar: Consumer reaction to recalls
August 17, 2018, Stericycle Expert Solutions
According to the CPSC, when companies aren’t able to directly contact affected consumers about a product recall, correction rates are just 6%. That leaves companies open to severe brand damage and legal liability. What is behind these low numbers? In this webinar 3 industry experts will discuss the results of a recent Stericycle consumer survey that provides some insight into what Americans really think of recalls, how companies re-build trust and recover their reputation in the wake of product recalls, and the current CPSC landscape, including the agency’s efforts to improve recall effectiveness and its request for information on current direct notification practices.

Regulating goods better for trade
August 14, 2018, Observer Research Foundation
Strong exports can be a major driver of a country’s economic growth. Hence, India has set the goal of increasing its share of global trade and integrating more deeply into global value chains. A government leader calls for policies supporting the scaling-up of Indian companies, the reduction of bureaucratic export procedures, and ensuring that Indian firms keep pace with international standards and technical regulations. Likewise, this article argues in favor of international standards.

New GS1 Digital Link Standard to Help Brands Connect Consumers with Useful Product Information Online
August 14, 2018, PRNewswire
GS1®, the global information standards organization, has ratified a new global Web standard and guideline to help industry optimize the online shopping experience. As businesses begin to deploy solutions leveraging the new standard, called GS1 Digital Link, brands and retailers can Web-enable barcodes and provide consumers with a direct link to brand-authorized product information and content including product images, expiration dates, nutritional data, warranty registration, troubleshooting instructions, discount offers, and more.

Jury Awards Terminally Ill Man $289 Million In Lawsuit Against Monsanto
August 10, 2018, NPR
At 42, Dewayne Johnson developed a bad rash that was eventually diagnosed as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Four years later Johnson — now near death, according to his doctors — has been awarded a staggering sum of $289 million dollars in damages in a case against agricultural giant Monsanto. The former school groundskeeper sued the company, arguing that an herbicide in the weed killer Roundup, likely caused the disease. His lawyers also contended Monsanto failed to warn consumers about the alleged risk from their product. Monsanto insists its products are safe to use.

CPSC Discussion of Federal Research Action Plan: Crumb Rubber
July, 2018, cpsc.gov
The public, media, and government agencies have expressed concern that the chemicals in surfaces derived from recycled tires may be hazardous to human health. In February 2016, the Federal Research Action Plan on Recycled Tire Crumb Used on Playing Fields and Playgrounds was announced. This is a multi-agency effort, which includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), performing research that seeks to improve the understanding of potential health effects of recreational exposures to recycled tires. The CPSC is studying exposures of children to playground surfaces derived from recycled tires. Ultimately, the CPSC intends to initiate a nationwide survey to acquire representative exposure data, and in turn, inform future research in the associated hazards.

E.P.A. Staff Objected to Agency’s New Rules on Asbestos Use, Internal Emails Show
August 11, 2018, The New York Times
Top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency pushed through a measure to review applications for using asbestos in consumer products, and did so over the objections of E.P.A.’s in-house scientists and lawyers, internal agency emails show. The clash over the proposal exposes the tensions within the E.P.A. over the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental rules and rewrite other regulations that industries have long fought

New strategy launched to keep consumers safe and protect businesses that do the right thing
August 10, 2018, Government.UK
Plans to strengthen the UK’s world-leading product safety regime have been set out by the government’s newly established Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The OPSS was established in January to help keep consumers safe and enforce the UK’s strict safety laws and the strategy and delivery plan. Included in the plan are a new national incident management team for product safety incidents capable of coordinating large scale product recall and repair programmes, and establishing a new website to support consumers with reliable information and advice about recalled products.

Product Safety: Free SPSP webinar on what every professional needs to know
August 10, 2018, Society of Product Safety Professionals
Product safety professionals and teams work tirelessly to promote product safety, protect consumers, and avoid costly problems.  During this cost-free webinar, Tim Cassidy will discuss specific elements within a product safety system, and why they are important for professionals to master. These components include the culture of an organization, product  assurance methods and risk management, understanding regulatory trends and requirements, product incident investigations, and product recall management. Tim is Director, Product Compliance and Safety for Best Buy. He holds a Master of Science, Management of Technology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

County fair’s thrill rides inspected daily
August 3, 2018, Bedford Now
Laura Kreger watched nervously as four of her six children slowly weaved their way through the line Tuesday at the Monroe County Fair. The Monroe native’s kids — ranging from 8 to 13 years old — were waiting patiently to ride Freak Out, a pendulum-like attraction that swings riders up into the air while simultaneously spinning them around in a circle. Kreger explained that this ride in particular was one she hoped to convince her children to avoid.
“This was one I really didn’t want them to ride,” she said. “This one especially, because this is (similar to) a dangerous one that, at another park, went down.” Freak Out is very similar to the Fire Ball attraction that malfunctioned at the Ohio State Fair last summer, killing one person and injuring several others.

Top International News in Chemical Policy and Regulation: August 2,2018 – Europe and United Kingdom
August 2, 2018, National Law Review (Bergeson & Campbell)
EC And Online Marketplaces Sign Product Safety Pledge: The European Commission (EC) announced on June 25, 2018, that it signed a Product Safety Pledge with four major online marketplaces — Alibaba Group (for AliExpress), Amazon, eBay, and Rakuten-France.
Among the measures agreed to, the marketplaces will react within two working days to authorities’ notices made to the companies’ contact points to remove listings offering unsafe products; and provide a clear way for customers to notify dangerous product listings. Such notices are treated expeditiously and appropriate response is given within five working days;

What is Corporate Culture and What Factors Influence It?
August 7, 2018, JDSupra
Over the past few months, senior leaders at both the Department of Justice (DOJ), Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton, have given speeches discussing the need for appropriate corporate culture around compliance. We therefore begin with the question of ‘what is corporate culture?’ It is not simply a social science question as Feldman believes “culture is everything” for an organization. Culture is a foundational internal control, without which all your other controls are likely to be ineffective.

Successful Social Entrepreneur Launches New Venture Selling Toys With A Purpose
August 9, 2018, Forbes
After creating the top-selling organic baby food company, Happy Family, and selling it to Groupe Danone in 2013, Jessica Rolph, 43, is ready to go big again.
Joined by Rod Morris, 46, co-founder and President, Rolph, who serves as CEO, has launched Lovevery, a toy company employing scientific research about early childhood development to create toys that help babies learn.