The Center for Environmental Health filed a lawsuit on June 16, 2011 against manufacturers of dozens of shampoos, lotions, toothpastes, and other personal care products sold by national retailers including Target, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Whole Foods and other stores are mislabeled as organic, in violation of California law.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a last minute Commission meeting on June 16, 2011 to discuss a request it received from certain retailers to extend the June 28, 2011 effective date of CPSC’s new standards for cribs. According to Commissioner Northup, the trade has been slower than expected in beginning to manufacture and test cribs to the new standard. Therefore the retailers have more non-compliant cribs in inventory than expected, which they will not be able to sell after June 28, 2011. CSPC also updated its frequently asked questions document on the crib standards available here. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 12/28/10 news, 10122813, for BP summary of the final rule which set a new mandatory standard for cribs.)

The Director of a nonprofit organization project¹ has released a study on the U.S. tariff system, which states that although overall U.S. tariff rates are low (averaging 1.3%), tariffs on home goods average about 13% and rise to peaks of 32% for polyester shirts, and 48% for cheap sneakers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced its weekly meeting on June 22, 2011 in which the staff briefs the Commission on various compliance matters. The meeting is closed to the public and the agenda is confidential.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls on June 15, 2011:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has updated the list of meetings between CPSC and its stakeholders that are open to the public, unless otherwise stated:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on June 14, 2011 that staff initiated an investigation during the previous week into serious burn incidents apparently related to gel fuel used in firepots. While its investigation is still open and active, CPSC stated that consumers should be aware of the burn and poisoning hazards that can occur from using illuminating fuels in firepots, tiki torches, and other consumer products.

On June 13, 2011, the Center for Environmental Health announced that independent testing it commissioned found dozens of pieces of lead-tainted jewelry sold this spring by Burlington Coat Factory stores and Styles for Less stores.

The Office of Textiles and Apparel announces a free webinar, "Exporting Technical Textiles to India," on June 22, 2011 at 9:00 -10:00 a.m. EDT, to provide information about the technical textile market in India, one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world. The webinar will also focus on intellectual property rights (IPR).

On June 13, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art scientific testing facility in Rockville, Md. According to Chairman Tenenbaum, the center will expand CPSC's testing capabilities, increase the efficiency of agency staff and equipment, and allow more testing to be done faster. Seventy-five agency scientists and engineers will now work together at CPSC's new National Product Testing and Evaluation Center.