00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 18                                                                    
01 Requesting the President of the United States to direct the United States Consumer                                      
02 Product Safety Commission to test the materials used in children's toys and other                                       
03 children's products for toxicity and to make the results publicly available.                                            
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS over $15,000,000,000 worth of toys and other children's products were                                   
06 imported to the United States in 2006; and                                                                              
07       WHEREAS in 2007, over half of the recalls for toys and other children's products by                             
08 the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission were because of lead or chemical                                   
09 poisoning hazards; and                                                                                                  
10       WHEREAS the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is an                                              
11 independent federal regulatory agency created in 1972 by the Consumer Product Safety Act                                
12 (15 U.S.C. 2051 - 2085) to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injury associated                           
13 with consumer products; and                                                                                             
14       WHEREAS the Consumer Product Safety Commission conducts tests to determine if                                   
15 a toy presents a choking, aspiration, or ingestion hazard but relies on toy and child product                           

01 manufacturers to regulate themselves regarding the materials used, including the toxicity                               
02 levels of the materials used in their products; and                                                                     
03       WHEREAS children's bodies and brains are in the process of development and are                                  
04 more susceptible to the hazardous effects of chemicals than those of adults; and                                        
05       WHEREAS parents in Alaska rely on regulatory agencies to ensure the safety of toys                              
06 and other children's products;                                                                                          
07       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                      
08 President of the United States to direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to test the                             
09 materials used in toys and other children's products for toxicity and to make the results                               
10 publicly available to protect the public and the workers who handle toys and other children's                           
11 products from hazardous chemicals.                                                                                      
12       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
13 of the United States; Nancy A. Nord, Acting Chair of the United States Consumer Product                                 
14 Safety Commission; Thomas Hill Moore, Commissioner of the United States Consumer                                        
15 Product Safety Commission; and the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa                                         
16 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
17 the Alaska delegation in Congress.