Product safety chief targets West Coast ports

Major shipping ports on the West Coast, such as Seattle and Long Beach, California, will be the first targets of a new import surveillance program detailed on Monday by the top U.S. product safety regulator.

Following a surge last year of recalls of lead-tainted toys made in China, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord said the program for the first time will permanently assign agency personnel to key ports full-time.

The CPSC will combine its surveillance efforts with a new cargo tracking system being implemented along with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service "to stop and inspect suspect shipments," she said at a press lunch.

The new tracking system will give CPSC personnel data about "shipments bound for the U.S. even before they leave foreign ports," with a focus on high-risk products, she said.

In late October and early November, Nord was facing calls for her resignation from a handful of Democrats in Congress -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats accused Nord and her agency of neglect. Nord refused to quit then.

At the lunch, she said politicians exploited the issue for political gain.

"Even the presidential candidates were stepping all over each other to get part of the action," she said.

She criticized media coverage of "the year of the recall," as 2007 came to be known.

Source:RamblerNews