At long last, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is getting the injection of new blood that it has needed for years. President Obama announced today that he will nominate a new Chairwoman and a new Commissioner for the agency.
This is great news. CPSC has been operating with just two commissioners for several years. As originally designed, CPSC is supposed to have five commissioners and needs a quorum of three to undertake any meaningful regulatory action, such as create new safety standards or issue mandatory recalls. When President Bush was unable to nominate a suitable third commissioner, Congress let CPSC operate temporarily with two commissioners, but only on a limited budget.
Full textPresident Obama addressed the National Academy of Sciences this morning at the group's annual meeting. Not since John F. Kennedy addressed NAS in 1963 has a president found the time to directly engage with the people whose ingenuity and hard work is directly responsible for many of the greatest improvements in our daily lives. And he did it within his first 100 days. He told a packed house that the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over, and maybe his trip to the NAS building -- and its timing -- show that he's serious. Full text
Avery DeGroh, a three-year old from Illinois, had a defibrillator implanted in her heart to deal with a congenital condition called long QT syndrome. It was a brand-new model with a specially designed wire (or lead ) that is thinner and easier for doctors to install. Unfortunately, due to a problem with the new lead, one day the defibrillator shocked Avery unnecessarily nine times, sending jolts of electricity through her young heart. She was rushed to the hospital and had the device removed. She's doing well with a portable defibrillator now, but the episode was just the beginning of a new battle for her parents. Removing the device, of course, was incredibly expensive. But even though the company that manufactured the defective defibrillator, Medtronic, recalled the device, it refused to reimburse Avery's parents for any of the costs associated with getting a replacement since they didn't use a Medtronic-branded alternative. Unfortunately for Avery and her parents, the Supreme Court's February 2008 ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic prevents them from suing Medtronic to receive compensation for her injuries or medical costs. Full text
In his appearance on Jay Leno's show last night, President Obama argued for financial regulations by making a comparison between credit cards, mortgages, and toasters: "When you buy a toaster, if it explodes in your face there's a law that says your toasters need to be safe. But when you get a credit card, or you get a mortgage, there's no law on the books that says if that explodes in your face financially, somehow you're going to be protected." But is there really a law that says your toasters must be safe? Well, not exactly. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs on regulatory preemption and medical devices: Last week's Supreme Court decision in Wyeth v. Levine protected consumers' longstanding right to take pharmaceutical companies to court for failing to properly warn patients and their doctors about the risks posed by the drugs they market. Unfortunately, people injured by faulty medical devices don't have the same right following last year's Riegel v. Medtronic decision. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs on President Obama's scientific integrity task force: Monday was a good day for our nation's science policy. At the same time he announced that the federal government will abandon misguided restrictions on stem cell research, President Obama unveiled an effort to promote a sea change in the way political appointees will treat the science that informs so many federal policies. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs about Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to withdraw the Bush Administration's proposed oil shale leases for research, development, and demonstration. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform policy analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs on the Environmental Protection Agency's Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, and the potential for EPA to get more hazard information on nanomaterials through section 8(a) and section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. Full text
Center for Progressive Reform policy analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs on EPA's health advisory on perchlorate, and the Inspector General's report on cumulative risk and perchlorate (supported by a study by ICF Incorporated). Full text
Center for Progressive Reform Policy Analyst Matthew Shudtz blogs on a New York Times trend story on home-based coal burning. Full text