CPSC Never Targets Small Businesses
Posted by Valerie on February 22, 2009
We’re told that if we’re small and don’t hurt anyone, we won’t be bothered by the CPSC, but I’ve been looking at recent CPSC recalls and most involve no injury. Some recalls represent less than 100 units sold. Some businesses harmed by CPSC regulation are small and haven’t hurt anyone.
Has CPSIA has somehow wrapped small businesses in an extra layer of protection? I sure don’t see that in the text.
See Are Product Recalls Fair to Small Businesses?
Yet the Boston Billows case shows that the rules under which the CPSC operates often favor big corporations over small businesses. Companies with deep pockets and in-house counsel can negotiate virtually every step of the process–even dispute whether a recall should happen at all. But a small business under CPSC scrutiny often finds itself in a fight it can’t afford and usually has no choice but to comply.
. . . . .“We just want to continue to sell our product,” says Skoug. “We know from the medical community that it helps save lives.”
. . . . .
Most nursing pillows are filled with foam or polyfiber, but [these] are denser and designed to firm up under the weight of a baby. According to several lactation consultants (nurses who work with new mothers in hospitals), Boston Billows’ pillow makes it easier for a baby — especially one born prematurely — to latch onto its mother’s breast.
“Boston Billows provides more support under a baby’s head” than competing pillows, says Diane DiSandro, a lactation consultant for 25 years who is based in Audubon, Pa. “It holds shape. There’s nothing else out there that does that.”
. . . . .
Felcher says that small companies often can’t afford to attend the [CPSC Standards] meetings and thus have to react to new rules only after they are published.
“Little companies are excluded from the big manufacturer collusions,” says Felcher. “This makes little companies easier to pick on.”
Last year, our government enacted an unreasonable, immoral piece of legislation. This year it insists that not a syllable can be altered and that no hearings can be held. But when it comes to enforcement, there’s certainly not the slightest reason to suspect anything but perfect reason, charity, and discretion.
BTW, after five years of defensive fighting and the near-total destruction of their business, Boston Billows received an exemption from classification of their nursing pillow as a Banned Hazardous Substance on December 10, 2008. I wonder if they got so much as an apology for the five years of lost income?
Ken Igoe said,
You no longer have to wonder.
When the ban was enacted, the CPSC sent field agents out to our customers. When it was lifted, they refused even to issue a press release. It took pressure from our Senator’s office to get them to link the lifting of the ban to the original announcement of the ban on their web site. Of course the ban lingers on the internet and spend much time correcting the record.
The CPSC commissioners unanimously approved our appeal in February ‘08. It took them another 10 months to formalize their decision. During this time we were not permitted to reenter the market on even a limited basis. Our written requests to do so were not even replied to. Debt mounted as we waited needlessly.
Big vs. small?
This whole travesty was started by a large competitor who was getting uneasy at our growing success. There was never a single reported safety incident with the Boston Billow. Tragically and ironically, there have been several infant deaths associated with nursing pillows using the same technology as our nemesis. No CPSC action was taken.
We will always be grateful to those in the medical community who supported during our 5 year ordeal and continue to do so now that we are back and rebuilding our business. They have sustained us through it all.
Valerie said,
Ken, thank you so much for responding to my blog. More and more, I am saddened by the fact that Congress and regulatory agencies–and even, at times, the general public–see “business” and don’t think “people.”
I’ve nursed eleven babies, and I know how beneficial your product is not only for babies, but for mothers as well. (CNN Money didn’t mention it, but your product provides wonderful relief to a tired mother’s neck, back and shoulders.)
It’s tragic that when a mother enters your brand into a Google search she receives irrelevant warnings that were baseless from the very beginning.
I’m going to send a quick e-mail to every accessible source which references this recall in the first few pages of Google results. Incorrect information that could easily be taken down is really no help to a new mother investigating her options.
Hopefully, now that you are back in business, you’ll be getting some good product reviews from well-ranked sites to help bury that old trash.
Add A Comment