Cart shark: For parents it can be a safety ‘Net

Talk to me for an hour and I will turn the conversation to the evils of plastic or the latest beef recall. Sure, I recognize that lead-tainted toys from China are not part of a communist plot to overthrow America, but when it comes to product safety I tend to align with the paranoids.

So when the Senate approved a bill earlier this month that aims to bolster the safety of millions of products sold in the U.S., including children’s toys manufactured in China, I felt validated.

Dubbed the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2008, the bill is a response to the growing number of recalls and safety issues that overwhelmed the agency last year. The bipartisan measure boosts funding for the CPSC while giving it more enforcement authority and imposing tighter safety rules on toys.

The Senate measure passed by a huge margin – 79 to 13 – though lawmakers have yet to resolve differences between it and companion legislation in the House.

While the political wrangling ensues, wary consumers can take matters into their own hands with an abundance of online resources designed to help navigate the minefield of product safety.

Ironically, the very government that is often criticized for being slow to respond to the public’s product-safety concerns is also one of the leading sources of consumer advocacy online. You can find information on over 4,000 product recalls – everything from cars to baby strollers – at cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html.

For the less-trusting conspiracy theorists among us, the Web also affords a number of independent and nonprofit databases aimed at the uneasy consumer, including:

“ HealthyToys.org, a consumer guide to toxic chemicals in toys. Brought to you by the nonprofit Ecology Center and Washington Toxics Coalition, this searchable database uses independent test results taken from over 1,200 kids’ products, evaluating them for dangerous levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury.

“ HealthyCar.org, a similar Ecology Center project that lets consumers compare test results for potentially toxic chemicals – including that heady concoction known as “new-car smell” – found in over 200 of the most popular 2006 and 2007 vehicles in the United States.

“ DrugDigest.org offers a noncommercial, evidence-based site to help consumers make informed choices about prescription drugs and treatment options. The site includes a searchable database of drug side effects and interactions, pharmaceutical industry updates, and a search tool that matches brand name drugs with less-costly generic options and potential drug alternatives.

“ Curious about the many pesticides you consume daily? Before taking a bite out of that apple check out FoodNews.org, a database that matches fruits and vegetables against tens of thousands of lab test results for pesticides in food, with a list of 43 fruits and vegetables ranked according to their resulting pesticide load.

“ If you’re one of those tortured souls pondering the flammability of mouthwash or the potentially toxic levels of phthalates in shampoo, the National Institutes of Health’s database at http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov includes links of more than 7,000 household brands to health effects caused by their chemical ingredients.

And if you’re still not paranoid after reading this column, check out www.ctrl.org – you’ll be donning that tinfoil hat in no time.