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Consumer Product Safety Commission Seizes Illegal Fireworks

Release Date: June 05, 1973



Acting on complaints received at its Atlanta Field Office, CPSC investigators in cooperation with the U.S. Marshal's Office and the Treasury Department's Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Unit, confiscated over 93 cases of M-80 firecrackers from Mid-South Fireworks, Columbus, Mississippi.

The Commission said it is considering appropriate action against the firm under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.

In the wake of a series of fireworks-related accidents throughout the country, CPSC said it is investigating reports of distribution and sale of illegal materials in connection with the July 4th holiday. The Commission has pending before it a broad new proposal which would ban nearly all fireworks and would establish mandatory safety standards on items whose manufacture could continue. Public comment on that proposal closes July 16.

Release Number
73-006

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years. 

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