On March 11, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), as part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act passed in 2008, launched a new easily-searchable database of dangerous and defective products – SaferProducts.gov. (H/t Professor Bernabe). The new website allows consumers to register complaints that they have about product safety.
The products’ manufacturers then have ten days to respond and then both consumer complaint and company response are uploaded to the web unless CPSC finds some reason to determine that the consumer complaint is bogus.
Seems like a valuable resource, right? I mean, why shouldn’t you have access to this information before you shell out for some big ticket item or a toy for your child that you want to make sure is safe? The database gives you virtually real-time feedback on products; there’s no lag time where you could be oblivious to a product’s dangers while the government dithers about whether to order a recall.
But Republicans in Congress, led by Rep. Mike Pompeo, managed to yank funding for the website two weeks before it debuted, saying it will “drive jobs overseas,” without explaining how or why the website could conceivably have that effect. So the future of SaferProducts.gov is in doubt. Check it out now before Congressional Republicans get their way and you can no longer see what products might hurt you.

This blog in maintained by the Boston product liability lawyers at The Law Office of Alan H. Crede, P.C.