CPSC Announces Initiative to Monitor E-Commerce for Unsafe Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is launching Operation S.O.S. - Safe Online Shopping - to find more recalled, illegal and potentially hazardous consumer products being sold on the World Wide Web. CPSC recalls include products sold in both traditional stores and online, but this new initiative concentrates on the growing number of products for sale in cyberspace.

CPSC has instituted a "War Room" where CPSC investigators will monitor the Internet for possibly dangerous and illegal consumer products. CPSC Chairman Ann Brown announced the new initiative today at a National Press Club luncheon.

Using computers and telephone lines that can't be traced back to the government, non-government credit cards and anonymous shipping addresses, these experts, posing as consumers, shop for items that could be dangerous to consumers. The items purchased are then examined and tested for compliance to federal safety standards. Operation S.O.S. monitors retail sites and product-related news groups on the Internet.

CPSC already has found dangerous products being sold online, including:

· Flammable children's sleepwear

· Prescription drugs without child-resistant packaging

· Children's jackets with drawstrings that pose a strangulation hazard

· Mini-hammocks without spreader bars that pose a strangulation hazard

· Cigarette lighters without child-resistant mechanisms

"This is really an expansion of the kind of surveillance work we already do in brick and mortar stores across the country," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown. "The popularity of buying consumer products online has skyrocketed. CPSC wants to make sure all the products Americans purchase are as safe as possible - whether purchased at the local mall or in cyberspace."