Senate debates consumer protection bill
The Senate on Wednesday began hearings on a consumer protection bill that could fundamentally change how hazardous products are recalled from the marketplace.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, seen touring a government product testing facility in Ottawa, examines products that were recalled due to product safety. (Adrian Wyld/Associated Press)If passed, the new act would require manufacturers and distributors to prove products are safe. It would also grant the government to order the recall of hazardous products.
‘It creates a safety net that doesn’t currently exist.’—Robert Ianiro, Health Canada
“It basically states to suppliers … you can’t manufacture, import, advertise or sell a consumer product that poses an unreasonable danger to human health and safety,” stated Robert Ianiro, director of the consumer product safety agency at Health Canada.
“That is very important because it creates a safety net that doesn’t currently exist.”
The current consumer safety net is the 40-year-old Hazardous Products Act, which gives the government only limited consumer protection powers.
For instance, under the current legislation, the government can’t order a product recall. It must instead convince the manufacturer to voluntarily recall unsafe products.
In an era of globalization, that approach does not serve consumers well, states Hari Bapuji, a University of Manitoba business professor.
“We need to approach product safety a tiny more proactively and more broadly,” he stated in an interview with CBC News.
So far this year, Health Canada has posted more than 300 voluntary recall notices, a third of them for children’s products.
The government states new legislation will give it more muscle to order a product recall, impose fines on the makers and sellers of hazardous products and the authority to order independent testing.
While he supports the bill, Bupuji worries about Health Canada’s capability to enforce new legislation.
“We are not going to get the full benefits of legislation unless we reform Health Canada and give more resources to them,” he said.
The government hopes to have the bill passed within the next few weeks. By then, it has promised to double the number of consumer product safety inspectors.
source : www.cbc.ca
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Submited at Thursday, November 25th, 2010 at 9:00 am on Health by chuck
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