United States Consumer Product Safety Research Articles

REBUTTAL—Consumer product safety: risk assessment of exposure to asbestos emissions from hand-held hair dryers

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is concerned that consumer exposure to asbestos from consumer products may present an unreasonable risk of injury. Recently, CPSC has obtained agreement by industry to cease production and distribution of hair dryers containing asbestos heat insulation. CPSC intends to broaden its investigation by selecting consumer products containing asbestos for “priority attention.” The Commission does not intend to make quantitative estimates of cancer risks posed by exposure to asbestos fibers in making regulatory decisions. This position may lead to a serious waste of resources for the Commission, industry, and society. The Commission should focus its initial attention on those products for which the release of asbestos is significant enough to cause an unreasonable health risk. To make a risk assessment for a particular use of asbestos, CPSC must acquire or request data on asbestos emissions and define “unreasonable risk to health.”

A Lethal Pacifier

A 5-month-old boy died of asphyxia from airway obstruction caused by his pacifier. It had been imported from Spain by La Cibeles Inc. of Union City, New Jersey, and had been marketed in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Florida, and Puerto Rico under the brand names Fauna, Flower, Navy, and Texas. It sold for about 50 cents. It is attractive in design, but has characteristics that make it dangerous. Following our report to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission,* the pacifier was recalled. We have been able to find only one similar case in the literature.1 The unnecessary tragedy was due to a preventable hazard and both individual and governmental action should avoid its recurrence.