Recall of the Infantino baby carriers last week brought a collective sigh of relief and appreciation for government security. Or did it? What it delivered was unwarranted apprehension on an industry and lifestyle and another illustration of the superfluous government behemoth. In the middle of this all, the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
How many people in the days following were asked (or told) with great concern about the hazards of their carriers, when this was a brand and model specific warning. According to the CPSC report 3 babies died in these Infantinos in 2009. And now there is a stigma on all slings amongst an unknowing public and a government not interested in educating. Through some brief browsing I found a CPSC article iterating between 1997-2002 there were 156 crib-related deaths. For cultural reasons mostly, do we hear of the terrible scourge of killer cribs and how they are all dangerous? Motor vehicle injuries and drowning (according to the CDC) remain the top two killers of young people, but the concern over these are even less manifest in a public accustomed to these perils.
The single death of a child would be unfathomable and I would not want to endure it, nor wish it upon anyone, nor dismiss anyone who had, yet taken in context, the CPSC says it is investigating 14 sling-related deaths in 20 years. This is an infinitesimal threat to public safety. And now, why are we wasting money on this?
Once the government steps in, people just come to accept its role as necessary. We had no CPSC until the Consumer Protection Safety Act in 1972. It was devised to protect us from risky products and to remedy issues by coordinating recalls and in the most extreme circumstances, ban items. Once again, we the consumers are morons who cannot do anything for ourselves or make informed decisions. It may seem cold, but the argument that some people will not make informed decisions does not fly as my personal freedom should not suffer due to their indolence.
We do not need the government to tell us or even dictate what is “unsafe” to us, and how dare they ban an item which does not pose an adverse risk to society as a whole. Bad products will be weeded out by the free market as they will not sell. The specter of greed always frightens people as they think companies will sell anything to cut a profit, but would they sacrifice future longevity for an unsafe product? People also feel unsafe items would not be caught (or at least quickly enough) unless the government is control of this function. We rarely learn about issues before something dire happens anyway. Do we not think private industry vendors such as Consumer Report could not do the same thing more efficiently and without taxpayer funding? Sentiment seems to be government is inefficient and corrupt, yet it is more trustworthy than a private firm? The CPSC has no accountability to us. CR provides the perfect example, they provide information and people use it to make informed decisions about their purchases, no intrusions, nothing more.
Take the CPSIA legislation about lead (and other chemical) content in childrens items passed in 2009. Why make lead testing mandatory? Simply make labeling mandatory so the consumers can make their decision. If a tested toy and an untested toy are on the shelf -which is likely to be purchased and which will disappear? Again we would hear the cries of those who don’t pay attention being hurt, but we cannot live by the least common denominator.
Does the government have any right to tell us what we can or cannot purchase on the open market? Personal safety is my responsibility; I have not handed it over to the CPSC. The same could be said of the FDA, why is it their place to dictate what drugs I am “allowed” to take. If I want to take an unapproved, experimental cancer medication, I can’t. Does that make any sense? My decision harms no one else and that is the gauge of true freedom. Why can’t we grasp the notion of private groups like Consumer Report, Underwriters Laboratories or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety providing data for our purchasing information? Competition would grow in this sector, honing it, and we could excise useless bureaucracy. But will we ever stir, break the latch and detach from the the cold mechanical teat of government?
