LITIGATION ALERT: THE NEW CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION PUBLIC DATABASE: PRODUCT SAFETY OR LAWYER BONANZA?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) is an independent federal regulatory agency formed in 1972.  The CPSC is assigned the task of protecting the general public from unreasonable risks of injury or death related to the use of consumer products.   In response to a number of toy recalls in 2007, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008 (the "Act").   As part of the Act, the CPSC was required to create a new database, SaferProducts.gov, to allow consumers to report unsafe products and make such complaints available for search and review by the public.