August 19, 2009

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

Recently, Intertek, a world leader in providing product quality and safety services, joined with the American Apparel & Footwear Association, (AAFA), a leading industry trade association, to submit a petition to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The petition seeks formal approval of a number of methods to test toys and other children's products to the federal limit of 90 parts per million of lead in paint and similar surface coatings. Collectively, these procedures can save manufacturers millions of dollars, without any loss in the reliability of that testing. Indeed, by making testing simpler and more affordable there will likely be more product testing, which may help prevent the kind of high-profile lead paint recalls we have seen in recent years.

The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of Product Safety Forum. Product Safety Forum is a free service of Product Safety Letter. Its mission is twofold: to promote frank and open airing of product safety issues and to provide advice and guidance from top experts in the field. Do you have an idea or article you think would make a great piece for Product Safety Forum, including commentary or reaction to this one? Then email Publisher Sean Oberle to discuss it.. To read more stories, see the archives

Specifically, Intertek joined the AAFA to request approval of spray sampling (painting a larger surface area of a sample product than is otherwise on the final product then testing that sample product); multiple stamping (doing the same for paint and similar "stamps" on children's products) and finished component testing (testing finished product components, e.g., painted buttons, before they are incorporated into the finished product). Formal approval of these test methods is necessary since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) has been interpreted by some to require that only "final" (finished) products may be submitted to CPSC-approved third party labs. We believe that the CPSIA imposes no such requirement and, in fact, specifically contemplates situations where final product testing is not the most appropriate way to test products.

But while this legal debate continues, countless perfectly safe products are being destroyed, since the paint on these products must be physically scraped off, rendering worthless sometimes several hundred samples of a product to obtain sufficient amount paint for a valid test. This wastes both the money and time of manufacturers and labs, not to mention the environmental impact of discarding so many products.

Our petition offers practical alternatives to such waste--alternatives that are as sound and as reliable as testing only final products. After all, reason and experience dictate that testing the paint on a button before it goes on a garment will yield the same result as testing it once it is sewn on that garment. The only difference is that the latter test destroys both the button and the garment. This "final product only" approach would also require that a children's video game system would have to be destroyed simply to obtain some paint from its plastic housing, when it would be far more sensible to allow the housing to be tested by itself.

The CPSIA is a groundbreaking and important new law in American product safety. As with all new laws, there are many implementation issues that arise. Our experience in testing consumer products has led us to make these recommendations that we believe will help make the CPISA work for regulators, for industry, and most importantly for the American consumer. The Commission and its dedicated staff are working hard to develop practical component testing guidelines and requirements for third party testing under the CPSIA. We believe that approving the AAFA-Intertek petition would be a good step in that direction.

The petition can be found at www.intertek.com/cpsia.

Gene Rider is president of Intertek Consumer Goods, North America, joining the company in 1988 as President of RAM Consulting. He previously worked with The United States Testing Company, rising to vice president. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Toxicology.  He has affiliations with The Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC), The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and The International Consumer Products and Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO). Contact him at gene.rider@intertek.com.