Since the passage of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) requiring child-resistant packaging (CRP), the Commission estimates that over 700 children's lives have been saved from accidental poisonings by prescription drugs and aspirin alone(see graph). Some children continued to be poisoned, however, because many adults who could not open CRPs defeated the packaging by throwing the caps away, leaving them open or transferring hazardous substances into other non child-resistant packaging. CPSC revised regulations with strong industry support by taking a common sense approach during tough practical negotiations. The Commission and industry cooperated to prevent future deaths and poisonings of children.
In 1970, Congress enacted the PPPA to reduce many tragic deaths and poisonings of children. Children gain easy access to medications and other hazardous substances if packaging is not child-resistant. Under the original PPPA regulations, packages were tested with panels of children under 5 years of age to ensure child-resistant packaging was difficult for children to open, and also with panels of individuals 18 to 45 years of age to ensure that adults could use the packaging. Unfortunately, despite this testing, many adults, including the elderly still had trouble opening the packaging.
To make CRP easier for adults, CPSC approved a rule that would use individuals 60-75 years of age as the adult testing panel. An industry group (Coalition for Responsible Packaging) strongly opposed the rule, arguing that the use of the older age group was impractical. The Commission suspended final action on the rule while it worked with the Coalition to reach common ground to make packaging more "adult friendly" without sacrificing child resistance.
The Commission issued a final rule in July 1995. By taking a common sense approach, CPSC arrived at a practical solution to the problem, testing adults 50 to 70 years of age, that won the packaging industry's active support and strong backing. To allow for an orderly transition to the new packaging, CPSC provided 30 months for products to comply with the new CRP requirements. And, the industry group formed to oppose any CPSC regulation "commend[ed] the Commission for the flexibility it has shown in this reconsideration process."
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from the
unreasonable risk of injury or death from 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's
jurisdiction.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury and for information on
CPSC's fax-on-demand service, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter
at (800) 638-8270.
Consumers can also report product hazards via electronic mail by sending a message to
info@cpsc.gov.
Comments: info@cpsc.gov
Revised: May 5, 1996
URL: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/success/pppa.html
