CPSC to Launch New Product Safety Database Website

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has start preparation to launch a new searchable database to allow consumers to make safer buying decisions. The new site, SaferProducts.gov, will eventually allow consumers to search an online safety database for almost any product.

The CPSC website allows consumers to search the recall section for products that have been taken off the shelf, but the new website will allow consumers to view complaints of injury and potential dangers that have been filed with the CPSC. Basically it will give consumers access to the same type of data the CPSC uses to determine whether a product should be recalled.

The current system is often impeded by rules and regulations mandated by the statute that created the CPSC, which in some instances delay the agency from alerting consumers to valuable safety information about potentially dangerous products.

"The database has the potential to create a new generation of consumers educated about product hazards in and around their homes," says CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.

The cost of the upgrade is estimated to be $20 million.

This is another step in the right direction for the CPSC and their goal for safeguarding consumers against dangerous and defective products.