Recalled Items and the U.S Reaction

An advisory committee wants to goive more power to the FDA to regulate items that may be dangerous. Well, isnt that what the FDA was supposed to be doing all along? If they werent doing that, then what have they been doing?

An official report is scheduled to come out next week.

Articles and news reports Ive been reading have stated that recalls are up to the manufacturers/companies, not the government. Thats why Mattel recalled their toys, not the government. Thats why Dole recalls their lettuce. So does this mean that if a company decides that they dont want to put out a "voluntary" recall, that they dont have to? Is that why the word "voluntary" is used? Does this mean there is no such thing as a "mandatory" recall?

The committee reportedly wants to give the CPSC the power to make it illegal for companies to "knowingly" distribute a product that has been recalled. Ok, so does this mean that it will be legal to sell a product if you dont know that the product is bad? So if Im Mattel, its legal for me to sell products that I dont know are bad but illegal to sell products I know are bad. So when something bad happens, I can simply say " oh, Im sorry, I didnt know the product was bad" and that alone will make the accident legal??

This doesnt make sense: if the committee wants to give the CPSC the power to make it illegal to sell known recalled items, then the panel should also give a government entity the power to make recalls, and not leave it up to the companies to make the "voluntary recalls."

The panel also wants CPSC and government officials to be in foreign lands inspecting vthe goods. So will all of the inspectors have lead inspection gadgets at the ports?? The issue of inspections needs to be dealt with by the toy companies and not the US inspectors. The Us inspectors can only do so much. And bribery will dilute the US inspectors roles. Dont think that all of the US Inspectors inspecting the cargo will be immune to take bribes- there are always a corrupt few. And those corrupt few will circumvent the system the US is trying to establish now.

Seal- there is the whole idea of having a certification type of seal on products so that people will know the products have been inspected. Fact of the matter is, no one is going to care. Doesnt our meat have a USDA stamp on it, but look at how many times meat has been recalled. And what exactly will the stamp prove- that its been thoroughly inspected, that its been inspected by US Customs, that the cargo was seen with the eye, what? So if Nixe Co has the seal, then am I supposed to trust everything they make because they are now a "trustworthy" company?? Give me a break!! People will know that Nixe Co is a "stamped " company and they will buy all of their products because they trust the stamp. But then there will be another recall and people will be put on the edge and wonder if the stamped goods are really safe. You kow whats going to happen, let me tell you. Our products will be stamped right? Then someone is going to find a way to steal the stamp, reproduce the stamp, and it will show up on products that were not truly meant to be stamped. Then we will run into the problem of real stamp vs. fake stamp.
And how will the stamping procedure work- how long does a company have to be in compliance before they are recognized as a certified company? And how long does that certification last? And will this mean that executives will no longer be able to go on trips sponsored by these companies that are all striving to receive the stamp of approval??

I dont think that the CPSC exec, Nancy Nord, should resign. Everyone needs to leave her alone.She was not the one ordering the toys to be made, she was not the one telling the Chinese companies what type of paint to use, she was not the one giving the orders. People always want to fire someone over something, but they are looking at the wrong person to fire. Noone was fired when drugs were recalled because the side effects were deadly (wasnt it the same FDA that was supposed to protect the consumers?? Its this same FDA that may be getting more power to regulate toys. OK, you think about it....its the same FDA that approved VIAGARA but then later asked the manufacturers to edit the labels because they failed to warn its customers about potential hearing loss that can occur ). So hopefully the FDA wont be approving toys and then later say, "oops, we messed up, can we please have all those toys back!" Thats not what the world needs. Toys need to be made and regulators have to know whether or not the toys are bad BEFORE it gets shipped out for mass consumption. Regulators have to be PRO ACTIVE rather than reactive. No one was fired when the bridge collapsed in Minnesota. No one was arrested for those wild fires in California even though they know EXACTLY who set the main one. So everyone needs to leave Nancy alone and let her do her job. Firing someone is not going to solve the problem.
Lets see what the future holds:)