TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senators Loretta Weinberg and Paul A. Sarlo, to require child care facilities to remove from their centers all unsafe or recalled items, was unanimously approved by the full Senate today.
“Parents and child care workers assume that the toys their children are playing with must be safe, because they are sold on store shelves,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. “Consumers rely on the manufacturers to make sure that they make their products safe, but each year many products are recalled. We must be sure that our children are protected from these dangerous toys by requiring any unsafe products to be removed from our day care centers.”
The bill, S-265, would make it illegal for any commercial user to knowingly remanufacture, sell or resell a product deemed unsafe by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The bill would direct the Division of Consumer Affairs to create and maintain a list of unsafe children’s products and to make the list available to the public at no cost. The bill would also direct child care facilities, as part of their licensure process, to review the list and certify that they do not have such products at their facility.
“The CPSC is responsible for ensuring the safety of products on the market, and are supposed to issue product safety warnings and recalls,” said Senator Sarlo, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic. “We need to make sure that our children will be safe when we leave them at day care facilities. This measure will make sure that child care operators are regularly inspecting their centers to be sure that any unsafe products are removed before a tragedy strikes. “There are too many unsafe children’s products on the shelves, in our homes, and in day care centers even after a recall has occurred because of inadequate notification, inspection, and enforcement,” said Senator Sarlo. “The best way to find out about a recall is to check the CPSC’s website at www.cpsc.gov.”
This measure now awaits approval by the Assembly.
