The Feds have changed baby crib standards. The older ones haven’t been shown to be unsafe. But that hasn’t stopped the Consumer Product Safety Commission from from forcing retailers to start tossing around 100,000 perfectly good cribs, since retrofitting them is not feasible economically.
Writes Rob Bluey of the Heritage Foundation:
An estimated 100,000 cribs could be headed to the trash – even though they’ve never been declared unsafe or a hazard to children.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had the opportunity to spare businesses of the expense at a special meeting two weeks ago. But the Democrat-led commission voted against extending the deadline. As a result, retailers stand to lose at least $32 million, according to the commission’s own estimates.
Commissioner Anne Northup, who argued for an extension, condemned the left’s assault on private enterprise in a 10-page statement on the controversy.
“I am truly at a loss to understand the motivation behind these actions,” Northup said. “At a time when small businesses are struggling to survive, this commission has refused to throw even a short lifeline to retailers that will now suffer at least tens of millions of dollars of losses.”
The real fun will occur over the next 18 months. Then commercial enterprises will have to replace perfectly safe cribs.
Families don’t have to junk their cribs–yet. But regulating cribs could open new regulatory vistas for the Obama administration. Just think of all the new jobs that could be created if the Obama administration established the National Crib Police to force old cribs off the market. It would be almost as good as getting rid of ATM machines!