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Legislation will protect families, charities and small businesses from regulations and lawsuits that could kill thousands of jobs. Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) announced the introduction of a bill protect small businesses, charities and families by reforming the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Senator DeMint’s legislation would stop the most overreaching and burdensome aspects of CPSIA, slated to take effect February 10. Unless reformed, the new law will demand onerous testing for anything geared towards children age 12 and under. This mandate would fall on books, toys, clothing, hair bands, board games, sporting equipment, backpacks,...

China's global customers are learning cheap products can be quite expensive --and deadly. Shoddy workmanship may be a judgment call, but lethality is not. In Panama, cheap exacted the highest price: Over 100 Panamanians died after swallowing a Chinese-made cough syrup. The list goes on. In March, pet food made with Chinese-manufactured ingredients killed or sickened several thousand American pets when a Chinese exporter "bulked" food ingredient shipments by adding melamine, a byproduct of plastic. Tainted Chinese-made toothpaste turned up in Central America, the United States and Canada. Canadian authorities later identified 24 different toothpastes (all from China) containing hazardous...

One of the most-beloved toys in the world has joined the growing list of Chinese-made products to be pulled from store shelves for safety reasons. RC2 Corp., which sells Thomas the Tank Engine toys, warned parents Wednesday to stop their children from using 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway vehicles and set components because their surface paint contains lead, a toxin that's dangerous if swallowed. "Consumers should take the recalled toys away from young children immediately," the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in the recall notice. The company said this recall accounts for about 4 percent of the total...

Toyota is planning to voluntarily recall about 2/3 of the Prius cars they have made. Someone in Japan learned that when you turn the steeling wheel and drive real slow into a curb, it can break something in the steering mechanism. Trust me, you drive very slowly in Japan a lot, with the steering wheel turned all the way the left or right. Usually, its bad business for a car company to do something like this. However, Toyota is sucking it up, making the changes on their own dime BEFORE a tire blows out, or a car rolls over and...

(AP) (WASHINGTON) A cookware company is recalling about 45,000 fondue pots because they can melt and crack while heating, posing burn and fire hazards to consumers. Trudeau Corp., of Woodridge, Ill., has received 13 reports of plastic handles breaking or melting and six reports of burn injuries to hands, feet and other body parts, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday. The recalled fondue pots, sold under the brand name Trudeau as part of a 17-piece set, are brushed stainless steel and have model number 082-384 on the box. The fondue sets were sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond stores...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON -- An Iowa company is recalling about 8,700 frying pans that can explode or separate during use, posing the risk of burns from spilled food and possible property damage. Innova Inc., of Davenport, has received 16 reports of frying pans exploding, burning two consumers with hot oil and damaging property eight times, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday. The pans, manufactured in China, are stainless steel on the outside and have a black, nonstick coating on the inside. The words "ULTREX DOUBLE WALL" and the company's name are engraved...