WASHINGTON — After a year of toy recalls that shook public confidence in product safety, Senate Democrats and influential industry groups are facing off over how the government regulates everything from baby cribs to all-terrain vehicles.
Backed by consumer advocates, lawmakers are pushing to give the public broad access to information about potentially dangerous products and to increase penalties for companies that make or sell harmful products.
But the campaign has run into fierce opposition from manufacturers and retailers, which have succeeded for decades in limiting regulation of consumer goods.
Industry lobbyists have descended on Capitol Hill to head off tougher rules they say will trigger more lawsuits and slow the removal of dangerous products from the marketplace.
Their efforts paid off late last year in the House, where industry groups thwarted a major overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Bush administration has also signaled opposition to giving the public more information and to expanding enforcement.
As debate shifts to the Senate this week, the battle is shaping up as a test of how much influence industry groups still wield, even with their traditional Republican allies now in the minority.
"This is a big one for us," said Stephanie Lester, a lobbyist for the Retail Industry Leaders Assn. The association is part of a sprawling coalition, assembled by the National Assn. of Manufacturers, that for more than two decades has effectively shaped the agency charged with overseeing its members.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is less than half the size it was at its peak in the late 1970s, before the manufacturers coalition was created. It has fewer enforcement tools than other regulatory agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Food and Drug Administration. And it is effectively barred from publicizing information about potentially harmful products without authorization from manufacturers.
"The [manufacturers] coalition is extraordinarily powerful," said Michael Lemov, senior legislative counsel for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. Lemov helped write the legislation that created the consumer commission nearly 40 years ago.
"They are up on Capitol Hill all the time, year after year," he said. "Consumer groups can't match that."
