Safety Group Draws Up Its ’93 Wish List : Toy labeling and seafood inspections are among items the coalition is seeking action on from Clinton and Congress.
Child-proofing cigarette lighters may not figure as prominently on this year’s congressional agenda as reducing the deficit, but the Coalition for Consumer Health and Safety is pushing the idea just as hard as some groups are advancing economic reform proposals.
The coalition, which represents 35 consumer, health and insurance organizations, has prepared a lengthy wish list of legislative proposals and regulatory changes that it hopes will receive serious consideration from the Clinton Administration and the 103rd Congress.
The proposals address topics ranging from automobile safety to AIDS, consumer products to alcohol consumption. Designed to make America “a safer place for consumers,” the agenda includes 28 recommendations for legislative approval by Congress and 40 for regulatory action by federal agencies. Here are some of the coalition’s key objectives:
Vehicle Safety
* A congressional directive to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to examine ways to reduce head injuries experienced by front-seat passengers, such as increasing the amount of padding on metal roof pillars.
* New regulations designed to increase bicycle safety in response to the increasing use of two-wheeled transportation for purposes other than recreation, such as commuting and business.
Product Safety
* Passage of a three-year reauthorization bill and increased funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with protecting American consumers from the risks that are associated with products used in and around the home and in recreation.
* A congressional directive to label children’s toys more thoroughly by identifying the specific hazards a toy might pose, such as sharp edges or pieces that could be swallowed.
Food Safety
* Enactment of an expanded federal seafood safety program, including provisions for inspection of both fishing boats and processing plants.
* Legislation to strengthen the process for setting acceptable levels of pesticides in food, reflecting recent research into the connection between pesticides and cancer.
Tobacco and Alcohol
* Creation of Environmental Protection Agency programs to educate the public about the health threat posed by second-hand smoke to nonsmokers.
* Legislation requiring health and safety warnings in alcohol advertising, and labeling reforms requiring additional consumer information on alcoholic beverage containers.
AIDS
* White House creation of a “federal interagency mechanism” to coordinate the federal response to acquired immune deficiency syndrome--as the National Commission on AIDS has recommended--along with expedited implementation of the commission’s other recommendations.
* Legislation setting penalties for violence against “vulnerable” adults, including people with HIV--the virus that leads to AIDS--and other disabilities.
Not only will the coalition need to compete with other advocacy groups for the time and attention of the Administration and Congress, but some of its proposals are likely to attract criticism from organizations opposed to expanded federal regulation.
The Libertarian Cato Institute, for example, staunchly opposes proposals designed to protect individuals from their own carelessness, such as mandatory seat belt use, or to affix still more warning labels to hazardous products such as alcohol and tobacco.
“They’ve done as much as is conceivably valuable,” said institute Chairman William Niskanen, referring to alcohol warnings. “People have been aware that this stuff is not good for you in quantities. They think consumers are terribly naive, and that’s simply not the case.”
One early signal of the Clintons’ thinking on such matters, however, emerged this week when the White House announced that smoking had been banned in the building.
“If visitors to the White House want to smoke, they will probably have to go out of doors,” said Lisa Caputo, a spokeswoman for Hillary Rodham Clinton. “This is all part of the new and fresh approach to the White House.”
White House policy previously allowed smoking in family quarters, offices and public rooms. Since 1991, it has been banned in the kitchen, locker rooms and maintenance areas.
Although the consumer coalition contends that millions of Americans continue to be at risk from unsafe products, it has issued a report identifying key accomplishments attained over the last two years. They include reauthorization of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, mandatory use of smoke detectors in federally funded housing and federal approval of the controversial “eating right pyramid” to replace earlier food consumption guidelines that gave meat products as much prominence as other food groups.
The coalition’s report also cited a number of encouraging statistics: Motor vehicle fatalities have declined to the lowest level in 29 years, cigarette smoking has continued to decline in every age group, and alcohol consumption has sunk to 2.43 gallons per capita, the lowest level since 1969.
“We’re making progress,” said Stephen Brobeck, chairman of the Coalition for Consumer Health and Safety.
