Product Safety Chief: Keep Kids' Products Safe Or Else

One of the nation's top safety officials is putting manufacturers on notice: Comply with new rules aimed at keeping children's products safe, or face the potential of big fines. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that her agency will get new enforcement tools next month — and she plans to use them in order to protect consumers, especially children. Come Aug. 14, the maximum civil penalty the agency could impose for violations increases significantly, from $1.8 million to $15 million. The new law, called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act or CPSIA, is intended to keep lead away from children by banning the metal, except in small amounts, from products for kids 12 years and under. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage.