CPSC approves landmark public database

After a sometimes raucous debate, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-2 to approve the final rules for the public database required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008. Starting in March 2011, consumers will be able to file reports on products and other consumers and researchers will have access to that information.

Much of the discussion centered around who could report to the database. Commissioners Nord and Northup want to limit it to those with first hand knowledge only and Commissioner Adler and Chairman Tenenbaum spoke eloquently on the risk of limiting information reported -- covering up injuries.

Danny Keysar, whose parents founded KID, found his way into the discussion. Since no one was in the room when Danny died and it occurred in child care, not his parent's home, Commissioner Adler was concerned that under the more narrow definition brought by the minority, Danny's death might have gone unreported.

But in the end the broad definition prevailed. This will allow parents and caregivers to keep their own children safe and allow researchers and others to use the information to identify unsafe products and injury trends -- leading to safer products in the future.

In his closing remarks, Commissioner Adler dedicated the database to the memories of children injured by unsafe products: Danny, Ellie and Tyler.

We commend the Commission staff for their incredible hard work in putting together the rule and the Commission for moving forward.

By the way -- in the meantime, if you have an incident with a consumer product, you can report it now to the CPSC. While reports after March 2011 will be public, CPSC has always accepted such consumer input and it has led to many recalls.