Consumer Product Safety Quotes

To many groups, the [Consumer Product Safety] Commission’s actions, to date, appear to project an anti-business bias. The Commission too frequently seems to forget that government does not have a monopoly on concern for product safety.

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Nancy Nord, Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Subcommittee on Consumer, Senate Committee on Commerce, Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.

Senator Ervin calls the CPA [Consumer Protection Agency] bill ‘the most dangerous piece of legislation ever presented to the Congress.’ He warns that the head of CPA would have ‘the most tremendous powers ever granted to any many in the history of the United States.’… And he reminds everyone that ‘government is a parasite.’

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Richard Lesher, Chamber of Commerce Publications.
342501/01/1975 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

Are you aware than the Consumer Product Safety Commission is capable of ruining a business through a mere editorial oversight—and it has.

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Richard Lesher, Chamber of Commerce Publications, 1975
341201/01/1975 | Full Details | Law(s): Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act

This approach assumes that all consumers want the same thing. As others have pointed out, the ‘consumer interest’ is not a monolithic interest which is easily identified. While some consumers may want safe, high quality products, other consumers may wish to sacrifice these qualities for a lower price tag.

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Lawrence Kraus, executive of the Consumer Affairs Committee of Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Legislation and Military Operations Subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee,Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.
10/09/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

It is our belief that consumers will not be effectively served by establishing an expensive new bureaucracy to assume the Congressional function of overseeing the existing agencies.

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Lawrence Kraus, executive of the Consumer Affairs Committee of Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Legislation and Military Operations Subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee,Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.
10/09/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

‘Consumer interest’ is an amorphous concept, made up of many competing elements, and the CPA [Consumer Protection Agency], time and again, will be called upon to make paternalistic judgments as to what is best for 200 million American consumers.

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Lawrence Kraus, executive of the Consumer Affairs Committee of Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Legislation and Military Operations Subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee,Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.
10/09/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

It is unreasonable to assume that existing bureaucratic lassitude will be corrected by establishing another layer of bureaucracy.

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Lawrence Kraus, executive of the Consumer Affairs Committee of Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Legislation and Military Operations Subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee,Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.
10/09/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

There are bureaucrats in Washington who believe their judgment is superior to yours, as a consumer. So they want to “protect” you by insuring that the only choices open to you are those meeting with their approval. They are really a warmhearted bunch. Just a little conceited, that’s all.

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Arch Booth, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce Newsletter. April, 1972.
04/01/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): General: Consumer

[The Consumer Product Safety Act] provides no meaningful protection for trade secrets or confidential company information… this empty standard is patently dangerous to our competitive system.

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Kenneth F. Stinger, Consumer Affairs Committee, Chamber of Commerce,, Chamber of Commerce Presentations to Congress.
341108/01/1971 | Full Details | Law(s): Consumer Product Safety Act

The class-action bill would open a happy hunting preserve to ambitious lawyers with a quick eye for the plump bird. They are not likely to be much concerned with fraud in the ghetto: No money there. But has a major manufacturer gotten a little too exuberant in his advertising? Has he promised a ‘benefit’ that may not be fully deliverable? Well, then, let us find 10 customers ready to say they’ve been damaged, and let us sue in the name of 10,000 more.

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James Kilpatrick, Chamber of Commerce Newsletter. August, 1970.
341908/01/1970 | Full Details | Law(s): Class Action Jurisdiction Act

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