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San Francisco Legislator Sides with Large Chinese Manufacturers and Trade Association over the Safety of California's Children
LOS ANGELES , July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens for Fire Safety revealed today that Senator Mark Leno's Bill SB 772 would allow unregulated and potentially unsafe baby products into California . Leno, who is the sponsor of SB 772, would allow baby products from China and other overseas markets to be exempted from California's tough safety rules - posing a potential risk to children and their families. Despite policies increasing the scrutiny of products from overseas, Leno's bill aims to allow products made overseas to be marketed to families with no fire safety protections and with no understanding of what chemicals or products are used in the manufacturing of these products.
Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association Claims Costs of Protections are Unreasonable
The issue came to light when documents supporting the bill submitted by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association indicated that the fire safety protections have resulted in "unnecessarily rising costs" and that this standard "forces us to change our business practices." Some would argue this is a small price for multibillion dollar corporations to pay for the safety of our children. The largest and most influential members of the trade association-- Fisher Price, Graco and others manufacture many of their products inChina or overseas.
While there are some protections in place under the Consumer Product Safety Commission,California maintains the strictest and safest fire safety standard in the world for bedding, mattresses and furniture that are part of many children's products. While juvenile products are not necessarily the source of fires, according to FEMA, 50% of child fire deaths are children under age 5, bedding and upholstered furniture (products impacted by Leno bill) are where 38% of fire started and African-American children account for 38% of child fire deaths in 2004. These are startling statistics that validate the need for fire protection.
SB 772 proposes to remove the tough fire safety standard TB117 from juvenile products sold inCalifornia. The standard according to CalFire has resulted in a reduction of injuries and deaths inCalifornia by approximately 60% over the past 10 years.
Citizens for Fire Safety is a coalition of fire professionals, educators, community activists, burn centers, doctors, fire departments and industry leaders, united to ensure that our country is protected by the highest standards of fire safety. www.cffsi.org.
SOURCE Citizens for Fire Safety
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