Consumers Union Opposes Nomination Of Mary Sheila Gall To Head The Consumer Product Safety Commission

Press Release
Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Contact:
David Butler (202) 462-6262
Consumers Union Washington DC Office

CONSUMERS UNION OPPOSES NOMINATION OF MARY SHEILA GALL
TO HEAD THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Consumers Union (CU), the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, today announced its opposition to the nomination of Ms. Mary Sheila Gall to serve as the Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday, July 25, to consider Gall's nomination to run the federal agency, which sets safety standards and orders recalls to protect Americans from injury or death from thousands of consumer products.

CU expressed serious concerns with Gall's ten-year record as a CPSC commissioner. The organization cited Gall's failure to support a number of safety measures aimed at children's products, as well as her tendency to blame parents, not unsafe products, for children's injuries.

CU is a nonpartisan organization that does not traditionally take a position on government nominees.

"This is an unusual move for our organization," said James Guest, CU President. "But when we believe that the well being of children and other consumers could be seriously compromised, as we do in this case, we cannot afford 'business as usual.'"

President Nixon approved the creation of the CPSC in 1972. It received bipartisan support from Congress after lawmakers found that hazardous products that were not sufficiently regulated were to blame for harming and killing thousands of consumers. The CPSC has jurisdiction over some 15,000 products, from bicycle helmets to toaster ovens to bunk beds to power tools.

The CPSC is empowered to regulate products whose intended use results in - or could predictably result in -- injury or death, either because of design or manufacturing problems, or because the foreseeable use poses an unreasonable risk. "Commissioner Gall appears to fundamentally misunderstand or disagree with this mandate," Guest said.

CU cited several examples of Gall's record when she argued against taking action to correct unsafe products, despite mounting evidence of consumers being harmed or killed:

Baby walker injuries had reached 28,000 per year when the CPSC voted on safety regulations in 1994. Gall opposed government action, saying, "the problem here is not with the walker, but with the failure of those entrusted with caring for small children to exercise appropriate supervision." Despite Gall's opposition, the CPSC voted to consider mandatory standards, and that action persuaded manufacturers to voluntarily develop designs that made baby walkers safer. By 1999, baby walker injuries had dropped almost 60 percent. Had Gall been in charge, there would have likely been no CPSC involvement, no change in design, and more children injured needlessly.
Faced with 89 child deaths associated with poorly designed bunk beds between 1990 and 1998, Gall opposed the commission's getting involved. She also said standards for crib slats were "premature," despite cases of children being hurt and killed when crib slats fell out of place.
Upholstered furniture fires are blamed for 100 deaths a year. But Gall voted against intervention, saying "...the fact that there are fires, deaths and injuries, while tragic, establishes only that risk exists. Something more is required to determine if that risk is, in fact, unreasonable."
In 1994 Gall refused to support CPSC regulation of baby bath seats, despite 14 child deaths and 7 near-drowning accidents. Her "no action" view prevailed and the agency did not intervene. Seven years later, 78 children had died using bath seats. (Gall reversed her position this year as controversy about her nomination was building, but even then she told the Washington Post, "This was a tough vote for me; it was a struggle.")

"Gall's focus on parents and caregivers rather than unsafe products results in children being the unfortunate victims of situations over which they-and often their parents-have no control," Guest said. "If a safer product can be manufactured at a reasonable cost that will save children when their parents are distracted or unable to react quickly, then it should be."

Guest said no one could predict with certainty how Gall would behave as head of the CPSC. But her record as a commissioner for the past 10 years, he said, is consistent and unequivocal.

"The record suggests Commissioner Gall is simply the wrong choice to become the leader of an agency upon whom so many consumers depend," Guest said. "Surely, there are better candidates to whom the nation can entrust the health and safety of its children."

***

Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, is an independent nonprofit testing, educational and information organization serving only the consumer. We are a comprehensive source of unbiased advice about products and services, personal finance, health, nutrition and other consumer concerns. Since 1936, our mission has been to test products, inform the public and protect consumers.

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