03/14/2008 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES

                  SJR 18-CHILD PRODUCT SAFETY                                                                               
                                                                                                                              
2:26:05 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DAVIS announced consideration of SJR 18.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI,  sponsor of SJR 18 said  he had first-                                                               
hand experience  with concerns  about toy  safety because  his 15                                                               
month old daughter had a lot  of toys and put everything into her                                                               
mouth. He  had no idea  whether the toys  were safe, if  they had                                                               
lead or  methylates in them  or not. The testing  mechanisms just                                                               
didn't exist.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
KAT  PUSTAY,  Staff to  Senator  Wielechowski,  read the  sponsor                                                               
statement as follows:                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     SJR 18 calls on the United States Consumer Product                                                                         
     Safety Commission (CPSC) to test the materials used in                                                                     
     toys and children's products for hazardous chemicals                                                                       
     like lead. Over $15 billion worth of toys and                                                                              
     children's products were brought into the United                                                                           
     States in 2006. In 2007 almost $10 billion came in                                                                         
     from China alone. In 2007 over half the toy and child                                                                      
     product recalls by the CPSC were due to lead or                                                                            
     chemical poisoning hazards.                                                                                                
     The CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency                                                                       
     that was created in 1972 by the Consumer Product                                                                           
     Safety Act to protect the public against unreasonable                                                                      
     risks of injury and death associated with consumer                                                                         
     products. Currently the CPSC conducts tests only to                                                                        
     determine if a toy presents a choking, aspiration or                                                                       
     ingestion hazard, but relies on toy and child product                                                                      
     manufacturers to self-regulate the materials used (and                                                                     
     thus toxicity levels) in their products.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     In essence, the CPSC checks for choking hazards but                                                                        
     not the effects of sucking on a pacifier for many                                                                          
     hours a day. Children's bodies and brains are                                                                              
     developing and are more susceptible to the hazardous                                                                       
     impacts than adults. We should do what we can to limit                                                                     
     their exposure.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
     Alaskan parents rely on the regulatory agency to                                                                           
     insure the health of their children just as Senator                                                                        
     Wielechowski said in his own experience, so we ask                                                                         
     that the Alaska State Legislature urge the CPSC to                                                                         
     increase safety testing on chemicals used in toys and                                                                      
     child products.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
2:29:11 PM                                                                                                                    
KRISTIN  RYAN,   Director,  Division  of   Environmental  Health,                                                               
Department  of Environmental  Conservation,  offered support  for                                                               
the  legislation  .  She  said   that  Congress  was  considering                                                               
legislation  called  the  Consumer Product  Safety  Modernization                                                               
Act,  which addressed  this issue  and others;  so it  was timely                                                               
that they would urge the President to approve this legislation.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
2:30:17 PM                                                                                                                    
Susan  Ely,   Legislative  and  Communications   Manager,  Alaska                                                               
Conservation  Alliance (ACA),  a  consortium  of 40  conservation                                                               
groups based  in Alaska, thanked  the committee for  allowing her                                                               
to testify in  support of SJR 18 . This  legislation addressed an                                                               
issue that had recently come to  the forefront as over 29 million                                                               
toys  were  recalled the  previous  year,  many because  of  high                                                               
levels of  lead, sometimes as much  as 200 times over  the safety                                                               
limit. The  most recent recall  occurred on Wednesday  [March 12,                                                               
2008] when the CPSC recalled  the X Force Commander airplanes and                                                               
Super  Famous cars  and motorcycles  because of  excessively high                                                               
lead concentrations.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MS. ELY  stated that Congress  had not adopted any  major changes                                                               
to this  legislation in over  18 years;  85 percent of  toys were                                                               
being  manufactured  in other  countries,  many  of them  without                                                               
product  safety standards.  The number  of imports  had increased                                                               
about 200 percent  in 10 years and, as of  October 2007, the CPSC                                                               
had only  one person  testing toys,  only 15  inspectors policing                                                               
all of the  consumer imports, and no federal  agency studying the                                                               
cumulative  effects  of  toxicity.  She said  the  United  States                                                               
Senate recently  approved a  bill that  would increase  staff and                                                               
budget and  create a  public database  of product  complaints. It                                                               
would also give power to state  prosecutors if they felt that the                                                               
federal government  was not  doing enough.  In closing,  she said                                                               
this resolution  would encourage  the federal government  to give                                                               
the  CPSC the  tools and  resources it  needed to  test the  toys                                                               
entering homes across America and  give Alaskan parents a tool to                                                               
make  sure they  can make  safe and  healthy decisions  about the                                                               
toys they  are buying  and bringing into  their homes.  She added                                                               
that  Alaskans were  exposed  to more  than  the average  citizen                                                               
because of the  deposition of chemicals in  Northern climates and                                                               
encouraged the committee to pass SJR 18.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR DAVIS  said she didn't  have a quorum  to move the  bill so                                                               
she would hold SJR 18 in committee until Monday.