Industries Paid for Top Regulators' Travel: Product safety agency heads got trips from manufacturers

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post, Page One

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 2, 2007; Page A01

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Notable among the trips -- commonly described by officials as "gift travel" -- was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The $11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia....

Consumer groups and lawmakers intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall dangerous products....

***

Several ethics experts and lawyers say the two administrators' travel records, some of which they reviewed at the request of The Post, suggest a conflict of interest....

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102732.html?hpid=topnews

[kurth]

1. "The destinations included China"

to make sure the lead level was plentiful for American children.

[rodeodance]

2. what next!! --very little seems to change!

[bbgrunt]

3. imagine that! k and r

[DuaneBidoux]

4. Industries paid for top regulators' travel

Source: Washington Post

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21589678/

---

Doubt this will get many DU responses or responses in public generally because it has now become the norm--but it sure as hell should!

[DeSwiss]

5. So wasn't it just last week that the CPSC Chairperson....

...testified that she didn't want the increased amount Congress was putting in their budget? Why of course not, you see? They have "other funding sources" that cover their fringe benefits packages from the people they regulate. A kinda bureaucratic symbiosis you might say.

So what's the problem? Has Bush resigned or something? This the way they do things..... :sarcasm:

:P ;)

Kick it!

K&R

[rubberducky]

6. Nord needs to lose her job.

This is typical of this out-of-control lawless administration. Kick and a rec because this kind of stuff just adds fuel to my anger.

[JTFrog]

7. Even if she got what she

deserved, * would pardon her. His minions won't fear anything until January 20, 2009.

[maddezmom]

8. Reporter on CNN now, this could just be the tip of the iceberg

:kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Thanks, maddezmom. It helps when a story like this makes its way from print onto the airwaves. nt

[Vinca]

9. Whores for big business. nt

[alstephenson]

11. Ha! "..travel records...suggest a conflict of interest..."

Gee, do ya think?

[rodeodance]

12. CPSC chief traveled on toy makers' dime

Source: ap

CPSC chief traveled on toy makers' dime

2 hours, 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Two chief consumer product safety regulators for the Bush administration accepted dozens of trips paid for by toy makers, children's furniture manufacturers and other industries they oversee, it was reported Friday.


Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton, took nearly 30 trips since 2002 that were partially or fully paid for by trade associations, manufacturers or corporate lawyers, at a cost of nearly $60,000, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper obtained internal CPSC records of the travel.

The report comes as Nord fends off calls for her resignation from some congressional Democrats, who are angry that the safety chief opposes their efforts to strengthen her agency in light of this year's recalls of millions of unsafe toys.

Among Nord's industry-paid travel was a July 2005 trip to San Francisco to talk to the Toy Industry Association and a trip to New York last year for that group's presentation at the American International Toy Fair.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/regulators_free_trips;_ylt=Ah3lFvpHA26T2mxx_xdL_EcGw_IE