Editorial: Whose side is she on?

Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

Responding to the rash of lead-filled toys and other tainted products from China, Congress is considering a bill that would strengthen consumer safety laws, increase the Consumer Product Safety Commission's staff by 20 percent and double its budget.

Yet Nancy Nord, the acting chairwoman of the overwhelmed and understaffed commission, is lobbying against the bill. Nord objects to provisions that would raise the maximum fines the commission can levy, give the agency greater enforcement power and make it easier to release reports of faulty products. She is raising concerns that industry groups have raised, saying such a bill would place an unnecessary burden on business.

But what about the consumer?

Nord has laughably argued that consumer safety in this country is at its apex, despite that the agency is tasked with keeping the public safe from the millions of products that come to America but has a staff that is half the size it was three decades ago.

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who heads a Senate subcommittee on consumer safety, told The New York Times he had a difficult time understanding whether Nord's complaints are "just ideological or she is just expressing the wishes of the administration."

He said it is "very clear to me, as well as millions of moms and dads around the country, that the (commission) is failing to keep dangerous toys and products out of the marketplace."

How could anyone, especially Nord, not see that? In the past two months there have been 13 million toys recalled because of levels of lead that, in some cases, reached nearly 200 times the safe level.

Lawmakers, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have called for Nord's resignation , with good reason.

By championing the laissez-faire regulatory attitude demanded by the Bush administration and industry groups, Nord has violated the public's trust and needlessly put American consumers further at risk of injury or death from unsafe products. That is disgraceful behavior from the nation's chief of consumer safety. She should resign.