Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 30:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) prevented nearly five million product units from entering the U.S. in fiscal year 2012, said a commission press release July 26. In conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CPSC uncovered roughly 1,500 different products during the fiscal year that violated CPSC safety rules. The release said CPSC screened more than 18,000 total products during the October 2011 to September 2012 period.

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 25:

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 23:

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 18:

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 17:

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls July 17:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking for comments by Sept. 13 on a petition from advocacy groups to set a mandatory standard for window covering cords. The petition requests that the commission ban window covering cords when a cord is unnecessary, and asks that CPSC require all window covering cords be made inaccessible through the use of a passive guardian device. According to CPSC, the petition says the voluntary standards currently in place are insufficient to protect children from choking, and the amount of recalls demonstrate that the standard isn’t being followed anyway. The petition was filed by: Parents for Window Blind Safety; Consumer Federation of America; Consumers Union; Kids in Danger; Public Citizen; U.S. PIRG; Independent Safety Consulting; Safety Behavior Analysis, Inc.; and Onder, Shelton, O’Leary & Peterson.

Small businesses are not taking advantage of the small batch manufacturer exception to children’s product testing, said Randall Hertzler, vice president-Handmade Toy Alliance, at a July 10 Consumer Product Safety Commission hearing on agency priorities for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Although the measure can reduce costs for small businesses, it also requires that the names of companies that use the exception are published in a public registry. According to Hertzler, members of the Handmade Toy Association don’t want to be on a public list of companies that don’t test their products.

Registration for the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2013 Safety Academy in Seattle, Wash., is now open. The event is free and capacity is limited, so individuals are encouraged to sign up early. The registration deadline is Sept. 9, and the online registration form can be found (here).