Personal Injury Law

Product recalls hit record highs last year

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) latest annual figures show that at least 124.7 million products were recalled including children?s toys, Roman blinds, and chenille bathrooms. Overall, recalled products were associated with twenty-six deaths. Product recalls for some food and drug products hit record highs last year. According to Consumer Reports, many people do not do much to protect themselves and many companies do not take the necessary strong action to make sure that their customers are informed. There are websites (such as www.recalls.gov) that allow consumers to get information about product recalls of food, drugs, cosmetics, autos, and a wide range of other products. These sites are important because most consumers do not know whether the product they are using is safe or not.

Our Chicago product liability lawyers have long hoped that the CPSC website was more user friendly for individuals to search whether they had dangerous products. Fortunately, last month, the CPSC went live with a database where consumers can search for safety information on products they own or may consider buying: www.saferproducts.gov. Reporting product safety incidents through the database is simple and easy to use. Following procedures set up by law, CPSC will review all online reports and have five business days to transmit qualifying reports to the manufacturer where possible. Manufacturers then have 10 days during which they may respond and provide comments and/or claims. At the end of the 10-day period, if all requirements are met, the report and the manufacturer?s comments will be posted on the database website.

Visit the product safety database if you are concerned about any of the products you are using.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog on April 01, 2011 (boomark / email).