Who can we count on to keep our products safe? Posted by Don Mays at 02/04/08 04:32 PM

The Washington Post recently published some White House insider speculation about potential new Chairman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. (Nancy Nord has been Acting Chairman for the past X months) The front-runner, they say, is Gail Charnley, a consultant with a doctorate in toxicology from MIT.

But who is she really?

She penned an op-ed [purchase required] in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch opposing tougher restrictions on power-plant emissions for “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices,” a nonprofit funded by utilities, railroads and mining companies.
Charnley argued:

Despite the significant investments in technology and the dramatic reductions that will occur as a result of the EPA’s national rule, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the state EPA want much stricter mercury regulations for Illinois power plants. These regulations would likely place Illinois businesses and jobs at the competitive disadvantage compared with states that conform to the federal rule.

In her view, stronger mercury emissions standards hurt business.

She also co-authored a study on human testing of pesticides funded in part by…you guessed it, pesticide makers!

And she was a tobacco industry consultant from the early 90s through 2001.

Everyone has to make a living, but the next CPSC leader must demonstrate that the agency is independent and free of conflicts.

Leisure Guy argues convincingly that the White House has used the CPSC to put business interests over the public interest.

We need someone we can count on to run the CPSC, someone who understands what it means to protect the public from “unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products.” We need some better options. Do you know someone who should be the next CPSC chairman? Tell us!

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