New safety rules urged for imported goods

WASHINGTON – A presidential task force today recommended a series of reforms to improve the safety of food and consumer products imported to the United States, including giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to recall food products.

The panel, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, called for creating additional safety standards and strengthening existing rules. It also wants to verify that foreign producers have complied with U.S. safety and security standards through a certification process, and to establish stricter penalties for violations of safety codes, as well to make sure the penalties are enforced.

The task force reported to President Bush, who created the panel after reports of unsafe products – including toothpaste containing hazardous chemicals and toys decorated with lead-based paint – reaching the United States from foreign producers, many of them in China.

Some of the 14 recommendations can be implemented by the administration through executive order; others will require congressional action. Leavitt said they would require increased, but as yet uncertain, costs to the government.

“We need to do more to ensure that American families have confidence in what they find on our store shelves,” Bush said when Leavitt delivered the report to the White House. “They have the right to expect the food they eat, or the medicines they take, or the toys they buy for their children to be safe.”

Bush said the administration would set incentives “for importers that follow strong safety practices and demonstrate a good track record.”

“We will increase our training of inspectors in foreign countries so they can stop dangerous goods at their borders instead of ours,” he said. “We will work for higher and more uniform standards for high-risk foods and consumer goods. And we will work to increase penalties for those who violate U.S. import laws and regulations.”

With imports valued at about $2 trillion a year, and expected to grow to three times that amount by 2015, Leavitt said, the reliability of safety procedures and the public’s confidence in them has become a growing concern across the economy.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, Leavitt said that in the course of the task force’s investigation, he inspected such varied imported products as tire irons and gingerbread houses, and had visited ports, retailers, wholesalers and freight handlers.

Giving the FDA the authority to demand the recall of food products would be among the major changes proposed by the panel. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has such authority over manufactured goods, but the FDA lacks the power to recall food products.

The recommendations, many of them highly technical, would take effect, if approved, over a period of months or years.

Leavitt said that with the Christmas shopping season approaching, his advice to people buying gifts came from his experience as a grandparent.

“Buy from people you trust,” he said.

james.gerstenzang@latimes.com