
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 4, 1994                   TAG: 9412230003
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: E1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BELLE ELVING THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

UNSAFE PRODUCTS ARE HAZARDS IN OUR HOMES, MAGAZINE SAYS

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recently issued a warning that little pumpkin-shaped erasers resembling candy could pose a choking hazard to children. It was exactly the kind of information about dangerous, defective products that often fails to reach the general public.

Unsafe and unhealthy products that pose a ``substantial hazard'' lurk in playrooms, medicine cabinets and kitchens across the country, said a report in November's Consumer Reports magazine.

But even if a warning is issued or a government recall initiated, chances are consumers won't hear about it because the agencies charged with pulling items out of circulation are underfunded, understaffed and overwhelmed.

Nearly a dozen federal agencies have some jurisdiction over product recalls, yet more than 8 million Americans are injured and 21,000 killed each year through the use of faulty consumer products, not including automobiles.

The magazine looked at three principal agencies that can initiate recalls. The largest, the CPSC, oversees about 15,000 types of products made by more than a million companies. But the commission's budget is one of the smallest in the federal bureaucracy, its staff is about half what it once was and two of five commissioners' seats have been vacant since 1986.

In 1993 the agency handled 176 product recalls, nearly all of them voluntary. Only 11 percent of the defective products - items such as smoke detectors that didn't go off, ladders that collapsed, portable cribs that folded up unexpectedly - were returned or destroyed.

Manufacturers say it is often difficult to track down consumers who might have defective products. They also point to consumer apathy: Fewer than 10 percent of purchasers fill out product-warranty cards, one way manufacturers have of notifying them of a recall.

The magazine also examined the recall success of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, responsible for recalls involving motor vehicles, and the Food and Drug Administration, with jurisdiction over food, drugs and medical devices. It offers advice about how consumers can protect themselves from hazardous products and increase their chances of learning about recalls.

The erasers that drew the CPSC warning were imported by the Oriental Trading Company of Omaha and sold through that company's 1994 Halloween catalog.

by CNB