Recently, the media has paid a lot of attention to the risk of lead in children's toys and jewelry. Yesterday, USA Today ran a story on another source of potential lead exposure: house paint.

The dangers of lead paint have been recognized for years, but the threat is still real. As the article points out, major problems can occur during the renovation of old houses.

Congress addressed this problem back in 1992. Congress passed a law charging EPA with the responsibility of developing regulations which would require renovators to be adequately trained in the dangers of lead paint and the proper methods for removing or painting over it. According to the law, EPA was to finish work on the regulation by 1996.

In 2006, EPA finally got around to proposing the rule. The agency now hopes to finish work on the regulation by early next year.

The primary responsibility of regulatory agencies like EPA is to enforce federal laws in the spirit — and with the speed — intended by Congress. EPA has failed miserably on this one.

In other news, while Americans tend to keep their lead in house paint, Chinese manufacturers sometimes prefer watercolors. In another incident of dangerous Chinese-made products coming into America, Toys 'R' Us is recalling 27,000 crayon and paint sets, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

A recent spate of recalls involving toys and jewelry contaminated with alarmingly high levels of lead has revived the debate over whether the federal government should tighten standards on lead exposure.

The Fashion Jewelry Trade Association is endorsing a tighter standard, according to BNA news service (subscription). Apparently, jewelry manufacturers are already complying with California regulations and would prefer a uniform national standard. Of course, this would have the added bonus of protecting all Americans from jewelry containing dangerous lead levels.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission would be the federal agency responsible for developing and enforcing the rule. Until a few weeks ago, CPSC had been prohibited from conducting formal business due to a commissioner vacancy. President Bush has failed to nominate a suitable commissioner and has instead seemed pleased to watch the agency fall into a state of regulatory disrepair.

Fortunately, CPSC recently had its powers reinstated by a provision that was slipped into an unrelated bill. Those powers expire again in six months though, so it would behoove CPSC to get working on a proposed rule.

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is using state law to enforce a mandatory recall of children's toys contaminated by lead paint. Mattel has been forced to recall about 20 million toys this month. However, due to the nature of the federal regulatory system for product safety, those recalls are voluntary.

In a statement, the governor said, "The federal government's limited powers of enforcement and voluntary recalls are not enough to protect our children from the dangers of lead poisoning and other hazards." Spitzer goes on to blame the priorities of the Bush administration. The statement calls the federal regulator, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, "woefully understaffed and underfunded."

In related news, Los Angeles Times writer David Lazarus has an aptly titled column: "Gaping holes in product safety net." Lazarus describes in more detail the problems with CPSC's reliance on voluntary recalls.

He also reminds us of the disregard with which President Bush treats product safety. CPSC has been without a commissioner for over a year, and President Bush seems to be in no hurry to nominate a suitable candidate. Worse, Bush keeps slashing the budget of CPSC. (The agency's staff is less than half of what it was 30 years ago, according to Lazarus.)

Both stories get down to the idea of the responsibility of government. Congress creates agencies like CPSC to respond to public crises. When 20 million dangerous toys could be in the hands of 20 million children, government — not industry — should be calling the shots.

Reg•Watch Update: Letting Industry Take the Lead, MSHA, OSHA and compliance assistance.

Today's New York Times has an editorial on Chinese product safety that succinctly makes two great points: China needs a better regulatory system, and American needs to use its regulatory system to better monitor Chinese products.

"What China needs is an effective and transparent regulatory system to enforce product safety standards," the editorial states. As Reg•Watch blogged in June, relative to China, America's regulatory system is stellar. While America can't match the cheapness or enormity of the Chinese workforce, we can be a leader in safety. Might the growing commodities of safety and reliability begin to bring the trade balance back toward America's favor?

Of course, as The Times points out, that's an uphill battle as long as President Bush occupies the White House:

American regulators, who are constantly playing catch-up, must also do a lot more to ensure the safety of Chinese-made goods, sending their own personnel to China to perform inspections of factories and test goods before they are shipped.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration, which disdains America's regulatory system, has cut personnel and squeezed budgets at both the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, impairing their ability to monitor the quality of products made in China or, indeed, anywhere else.

At a time of ever-rising imports, the F.D.A. has lost hundreds of food scientists and field inspectors. And the White House is proposing cutting the agency's budget next year, in real terms. The C.P.S.C., which sets safety standards for toys and many other consumer products, must inspect tens of billions of dollars worth of goods sold every year with only about 100 field investigators and compliance personnel. And it has suffered a 10 percent cut in its budget in the last two years.

Mattel, Inc. and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced recalls of 9.5 million Chinese toys today due either to magnets coming loose from the toys or excessive levels of lead-based paint, according to The Washington Post. The magnets can come out the toys and be swallowed by children causing potentially fatal problems.

Mattel discovered the problems while investigating all its factories in China after an earlier recall of 1.5 million toys due to lead paint coatings. According to the Post story, Mattel had never recalled products for lead paint problems prior to this month.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that one of the Chinese owners of the toy manufacturer tied to the Mattel, Inc. recall of 1.5 million toys committed suicide Aug. 11. Cheung Shu-hung, an owner of Lee Der Industrial Co., killed himself at his Chinese factory.

It is not clear if the suicide is related to the recall, according the WSJ article, but Mattel revealed late last week that Lee Der was the manufacturer of the recalled toys, which may have been coated with excessive levels of lead-based paint. After the Aug. 2 recall, China announced that Lee Der was prevented from exporting its products and was being investigated.

Chinese manufacturers face intense cost pressures and may be facing huge losses as U.S. companies begin to look elsewhere for their products. An Aug. 11 Washington Post story cited instances of U.S toy retailers looking to purchase more goods from domestic and E.U. sources, although many of their holiday orders for goods have already been placed. E.U. manufacturers have higher safety standards than the U.S. and test products made in China before exporting them. The Post also reports that the Toy Industry Association is working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to write legislation that makes testing mandatory for all toys. As we noted last week, CPSC has just had its full powers legislatively restored temporarily. If the two groups working together propose steps away from the current voluntary approach, it would be a great leap forward.

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time:

Toy Recalls Bring Attention to Commission's Inadequacies

OMB Manipulates Science in Cost-Benefit Analysis for Ozone Rule

Size Matters: Nanotechnologies Present New Challenges

On Friday, President Bush signed into law S. 4, Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. The bill contains a provision which will extend the voting quorum of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) by six months. CPSC is an independent regulatory agency responsible for ensuring product safety by promulgating rules and negotiating or forcing recalls.

CPSC lost its voting quorum in January due to a commissioner vacancy. In July 2006, Chairman Hal Stratton quit, leaving CPSC with only two of its three commissioners. By law, CPSC may conduct formal operations with two commissioners for only six months. Subsequently, its quorum had expired.

President Bush finally got around to nominating a new chairman in March. Unfortunately, his nominee was former manufacturing industry lobbyist Michael Baroody, who was later forced to withdraw his nomination after intense opposition.

Since January, CPSC has been able to negotiate recalls but has been unable to force them. CPSC has not produced a final rule in over a year. This bill should get the agency back on track. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) deserves the credit for pushing to insert this provision into the bill.