Today, I announced that I will step down as Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), effective January 21, 2025. It has been a privilege to lead this agency for more than three years and I am proud of what we have accomplished. I have devoted much of my career to consumer protection issues, so it has been gratifying to see many of the issues I and others worked on culminate in new policies that will protect babies, children, seniors, and families from product hazards for years to come.
I joined CPSC as the agency approached its 50th anniversary. My priority from day one was to build on our incredible legacy by putting consumers first in every aspect of our work, to use all the tools at our disposal to hold companies accountable for product hazards, and to prepare the agency to address not just current safety hazards but improve its operations so it is better positioned to address new and emerging product dangers.
 

We have been incredibly productive over the past three years, and I believe we have made real progress to protect the public. We implemented the Infant Sleep Products Rule and the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, and issued mandatory safety standards for nursing pillows and infant loungers that will go into effect this year. With the support of parent advocates and action by Congress, we implemented new rules to protect children from tip-over injuries from unstable furniture and to reduce children’s access to button and coin cell batteries. We acted to prevent potentially deadly ingestions of small, high-power magnets. And we have developed rules to address risks posed by water beads and infant neck floats.
 

Additionally, we’ve held companies accountable through strong enforcement. During my time as Chair, we have:
• conducted 981 recalls and issued more than 114 product safety warnings to consumers;
• issued 181,940 take-down requests to online marketplaces for recalled, banned, or violative products;
• intercepted 32,054,144 violative items at U.S. ports; and
• assessed more than $125 million in civil penalties for violations of product safety laws – more than in any other period in the agency’s history.
 

We’re doing a better job of informing the public about hazardous products in the marketplace. We’ve reached consumers more than 10 billion times with safety messages and warnings through our safety campaigns and direct warnings about dangerous products, leveraging digital and social platforms to amplify safety messaging. We’ve also targeted safety education efforts to communities at greater risk of injury including posting recalls and launching social media platforms in Spanish, buying billboard advertisements in Native American communities, and running radio PSAs in African American communities highlighting hazards these communities face.
But numbers and initiatives don’t fully capture the human impact of our work. We cannot forget that behind every statistic is a family or individual whose story was the catalyst for action. Each recall brings a hope that our work prevents heartbreaking events like the electric scooter fire that killed two young sisters in Pennsylvania. And my work to improve the safety of products sold online is motivated in part by the death of a young child in Illinois who was strangled while playing in a hazardous bounce house that was sold on multiple e-commerce platforms.
 

While agency leaders come and go, the vital mission of CPSC continues. And there is no doubt that our mission is embodied by our incredible employees, who come to their jobs every day, year after year, with passion and a purpose to keep Americans safe. Their commitment was recognized last year by the Partnership for Public Service, which honored CPSC as the most-improved small agency in its Best Places to Work in the Federal Government ranking. I am grateful for and inspired by their example and proud to have worked alongside them.
 

Next week, I will step down as Chair, and our newly elected Vice-Chairman, Peter Feldman, will become Acting Chairman. While I may move to a different seat on the dais, I won’t be stepping away from my commitment to protect consumers from dangerous products they may unknowingly bring into their home or encounter in daily activities.
As I’ve learned over the past three years, with every product hazard we address through new standards, several more are emerging that may put consumers at risk. I look forward to working with Acting Chairman Feldman and my fellow Commissioners to address product hazards, reduce injuries, and save lives.
 

*The views expressed in this statement are solely the views of Chair Hoehn-Saric and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission.