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have a legitimate role in regulating con-
sumer products, a role typically reserved
for the federal, and in some instances,
state governments? Clearly, these local
governments believe that they do, as do
the consumer and environmental
organizations behind the effort. Yet the
answer is not as simple as it may seem.
Every so often, frequently in
response to sensationalized media
reports regarding the prevalence of
allegedly unsafe products getting into
PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY
TOY SAFETY REGULATION
WHY IT SHOULD BE LEFT TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
BY MATTHEW COHEN
JANUARY 2016 •
PPB
• 73
THINK
N JUNE 2, 2015,
the Suffolk County
Legislature became the latest county legisla-
ture in New York to pass a “toxic-free” toys
act. About a week later, the New York City Council got in on
the action and introduced a similar bill. Since the beginning
of 2015, five county legislatures in New York (Albany, Suffolk,
Westchester, Dutchess and Onondaga) and the New York
City Council have either passed, or are in the process of con-
sidering, laws to supposedly stem the flow of unsafe children’s
products onto local store shelves. The actions of these locali-
ties raise the fundamental legal and policy question: do local
governments, such as county legislatures or town councils,
O