Edwards turns to consumers

Presidential candidate John Edwards yesterday called for the resignation of the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, saying the Bush administration has failed to protect the public from dangerous products.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Amherst Middle School, Edwards sought to link a recent spate of Chinese-made toy recalls to Washington corruption - a central theme of his campaign.

"We've talked a great deal about the system in Washington being broken and not working for ordinary Americans, being corrupt and rigged," he said. "There is no better example of that than the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the chairman, Nancy Nord, who it turns out has been traveling on trips paid for by the toy industry at the same time that we have millions of dangerous toys in the United States which have created a risk for our children."

Nord and her agency have been criticized for moving too slowly to recall tainted toys and other products. She and her predecessor also have come under scrutiny for accepting free travel from industries regulated by the commission. Nord has defended the trips, saying it was common practice at the agency long before she took over two years ago.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats last week demanded Nord's resignation. Nord has refused.

Edwards yesterday also introduced a plan to reform regulation of food, drugs and consumer products. His proposal would:

• Ban consumer regulators from accepting gifts and travel expenses from industries they oversee.

• Improve the website for consumer complaints and recalls.

• Ban lead in all children's products, require mandatory independent testing, empower authorities to prevent products deemed risky for children from entering the country and increase penalties for companies that produce faulty products.

• Enforce country-of-origin labeling and strengthen food safety inspections and recall powers.

• Station permanent Food and Drug Administration inspectors to conduct spot inspections in countries with significant imports to the United States, beginning with China and India.

• Require China to regulate and trace its chemical exports to counteract drug counterfeiting.

Edwards began his day at a political breakfast in Bedford before visiting Amherst Middle School, where he took questions, town hall style, from about 70 seventh-graders.

By BEVERLEY WANG

The Associated Press