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Letter to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce About Pending Product Safety Legislation.

July 19, 1971

Dear Mr. Chairman:

In my Consumer Message of February 24, I proposed comprehensive product safety legislation authorizing the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to regulate hazardous consumer products. Subsequently S. 1797, a bill incorporating this proposal, was introduced on behalf of the Administration and referred to your Committee.

As part of the preparation of this bill, I asked Secretary Richardson to undertake a careful study of the organizational structure within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that would most effectively implement the consumer product safety authority proposed n S. 1797.

Today, Secretary Richardson will announce, with my approval, that upon enactment of this bill, he will create within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare a new Consumer Safety Administration. This unit will build upon the activities, personnel and facilities of the Food and Drug Administration, which has a long and distinguished history in the field of consumer safety, primarily in the vital regulation of the foods we eat and the drugs we use.

The Consumer Safety Administration will continue the work of the Food and Drug Administration. At the same time, the new unit will be structured so that the regulation of hazardous .consumer products authorized in S. 1797 will have the facilities, the personnel, and the organizational prominence that will ensure an effective, efficient and responsive product safety program. Finally, where possible, common facilities such as laboratories and field offices will be utilized to gain the maximum possible cost effectiveness.

S. 1797 is a strong bill which will fully satisfy the public need for adequate protection against hazardous consumer products, and Secretary Richardson has acted to ensure that his Department is fully capable of implementing this needed authority. I urge your Committee to report S. 1797 favorably to the Senate.

Sincerely,

RICHARD NIXON

[Honorable Warren G. Magnuson, United States Senate, Washington, D.C.]

Note: A copy of the letter was sent to the Honorable Norris Cotton, ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Commerce.

Richard Nixon, Letter to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce About Pending Product Safety Legislation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240411

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