We testified (my testimony) yesterday at a hearing on CPSC/China/toy recall issues before Senator Mark Pryor's (D-AR) subcommittee of the Commerce Committee in favor of his bill: the CPSC Reform Act of 2007, S. 2045 (we also suggested improvements) to reauthorize and modernize the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Obviously, the National Association of Manufacturers opposed the bill, especially its provisions to increase civil penalties, let state Attorneys General police the product safety beat, and eliminate unnecessary secrecy in CPSC activities. But, astonishingly, acting CPSC chair Nancy Nord largely agreed with NAM, especially when she said that eliminating secrecy would be "counter-productive." She essentially said that their relationship with corporate wrongdoers would be jeopardized. Former CPSC Chair, Ann Brown, in Annys Shin's Washington Post story Head of CPSC Opposes Measure on the hearing, said, and we agree:

"She thinks it's the industry product safety commission," said Ann Brown, CPSC chairman under President Bill Clinton. The current law "stands in the way of consumers getting prompt information, and it should be amended and changed."