The manufacture and sale of any product that poses an unreasonable risk to consumers can be banned

journal article

CPSC Regulation of Cancer Risks in Consumer Products: 1972-1981

Virginia Law Review

Vol. 67, No. 7 (Oct., 1981)

, pp. 1261-1375 (115 pages)

Published By: Virginia Law Review

https://doi.org/10.2307/1072750

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1072750

Read and download

Log in through your school or library

Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. To access this article, please contact JSTOR User Support. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.

With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free.

Get Started

Already have an account? Log in

Monthly Plan

  • Access everything in the JPASS collection
  • Read the full-text of every article
  • Download up to 10 article PDFs to save and keep
$19.50/month

Yearly Plan

  • Access everything in the JPASS collection
  • Read the full-text of every article
  • Download up to 120 article PDFs to save and keep
$199/year

Abstract

After this article was set in type, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Amendments of 1981, which authorize the Consumer Product Safety Commission to operate through fiscal year 1983. The Amendments also effect important substantive and procedural changes in the laws that the Commission administers. These changes, which are summarized briefly at the end of the article, render some of Part II unreliable as a description of current CPSC statutory authority, but they do not undermine its historical accuracy. Furthermore, some of Congress's amendments are consistent with recommendations set forth in this article. In addition, and also after work on the article was completed, the Commission itself made changes in its internal structure that respond to criticisms advanced here and thus date some of the discussion at notes 30-39 infra. These changes, too, are discussed briefly in the epilogue.

Journal Information

The Virginia Law Review is a journal of general legal scholarship published by the students of the University of Virginia School of Law. The continuing objective of the Virginia Law Review is to publish a professional periodical devoted to legal and law-related issues that can be of use to judges, practitioners, teachers, legislators, students, and others interested in the law. First formally organized on April 23, 1913, the Virginia Law Review today remains one of the most respected and influential student legal periodicals in the country.

Publisher Information

The Virginia Law Review is published by the Virginia Law Review Association, an independent publishing institution staffed and directed solely by law students at the University of Virginia School of Law. The Virginia Law Review was permanently organized on April 23, 1913, and today has among its ranks approximately eighty current student members and hundreds of alumni across the country. The members of the Virginia Law Review Association select and edit all of the pieces published in the eight annual issues of the Virginia Law Review.

Rights & Usage

This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions
Virginia Law Review © 1981 Virginia Law Review
Request Permissions

§ 1302.1 Scope and application.

(a) In this part 1302 the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission) declares extremely flammable contact adhesives and similar liquid or semiliquid consumer products to be banned hazardous products under sections 8 and 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) (15 U.S.C. 2057 and 2058). This ban applies to those extremely flammable contact adhesives and similar liquid or semiliquid consumer products, as defined in § 1302.3(b), which are in commerce or are being distributed in commerce on or after the effective date of this regulation, and which are consumer products (as defined in section 3(a) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 2052) customarily produced or distributed for sale to, or for the personal use, consumption or enjoyment of consumers in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation or otherwise.

(b) An extremely flammable contact adhesive as defined in § 1302.3(b) is a banned hazardous product if the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer customarily produces or distributes the product for sale to, or use by consumers, or if the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer fosters or facilitates the product's sale to, or use by, consumers. For example, contact adhesives available in retail stores, such as lumber yards or hardware stores, for sale to consumers would be included in the scope of the ban even though such outlets may sell such products primarily to industrial or professional users. The manufacturer who markets an extremely flammable contact adhesive which would be subject to the ban if sold to consumers has the responsibility for determining the distribution and use patterns of its product and for taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the product is not made available for sale to consumers. The test of whether a contact adhesive is banned shall be whether the product, under any customary or reasonably foreseeable condition of distribution, or sale, is made available for purchase by consumers.

(c) Contact adhesives that are labeled as, marketed, and sold solely for industrial or professional use are not within the scope of this ban. However, merely labeling a contact adhesive for industrial or professional use only would not exclude such products from this ban. In addition, packaging a contact adhesive in a large size container would not in itself exclude the product from this ban.

(d) The Commission has found that the contact adhesives covered by this ban are being, or will be distributed in commerce; and present an unreasonable risk of injury; and that no feasible consumer product safety standard under the CPSA would adequately protect the public from the unreasonable risk of injury associated with these products.

What does the Consumer Product Safety Commission do to protect consumers?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) protects the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under its jurisdiction, including products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children.

What is the Consumer Product Safety Act and what does it do?

Enacted in 1972, CPSA is our umbrella statute. This law established the agency, defines CPSC's basic authority and authorizes the agency to develop standards and bans. It also gives CPSC the authority to pursue recalls and to ban products under certain circumstances.

Who is responsible for the safety of products?

Three different federal government agencies are responsible for ensuring consumer safety: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What products are regulated by the CPSC?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has jurisdiction over many types of consumer products, from coffee makers, to toys, to lawn mowers, to fireworks. However, some types of consumer products are covered by other Federal agencies.