Prompted by the death of two children in recent years, Senate Democrats are taking a stand on the issue of the appearance of laundry and dishwasher detergent pods.
The Hill reports:
In the last two years, the number of calls to poison control has almost doubled. The American Association for Poison Control Centers reported nearly 12,000 calls to poison-control centers last year for children ages five and younger who had ingested a detergent packet, according to a news release from Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) office.Nelson and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are introducing legislation that will call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to create better packaging and safety standards for the soap capsules.
Nelson went so far as to call laundry pods “a colorful, enticing-looking product.” Tasty!
Eric Awerbuch, an attorney in Phoenix, observes that since 2012, only 769 young children were hospitalized. Which is the equivalent of five cases per state, per year.
He’s not convinced a new regulation from Congress, implemented by the nation’s nanny, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is necessary.
Laundry detergent is currently regulated by three separate federal statutes and a bevy of federal regulations under the Federal Hazardous Substance Act,the Consumer Product Safety Act, and the Poison Prevention Packaging Act.
Instead of regulating detergent under the existing legal framework, Senator Schumer, as politicians often do, has asked for new regulations.
Instead of regulating detergent under the existing legal framework, Senator Schumer, as politicians often do, has asked for new regulations.
Perhaps “Keep out of the Reach of Children” should be changed to “Keep out of the Reach of Bad Parents.”
