Why Is There No Dangerous Products Database?

Aqua Dots toys, which were recalled because the coating has a chemical that causes a comatose akin to a "date rape drug."

Photo: CPSC

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Isn't it time for an Internet database, updated in real-time, that can compile consumer complaints about potentially dangerous products?

That's what citizens and consumer groups, frustrated by toy and product recalls due to everything from toxic lead paint to "date rape drug" additives, want the government to create.

This is, after all, the 21st century. When people need information, they Google for it. (If Congress really wanted to do some good, they'd look to Web 2.0 techniques for generating and categorizing consumer complaints.)

It may be time, but politics is politics.

"Industry groups are vigorously fighting the proposal, arguing such a database would do little to help consumers and would force companies to disclose trade secrets," as the Los Angeles Times writes. "The dispute over the database is at the center of this week's debate in the Senate over how to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission's oversight of some 15,000 types of consumer products."

If you think it's time, let your senator and congressional representative know.

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