What it is: A firewalled lab is a children's product testing facility owned, managed or controlled by a manufacturer or private labeler that has protections in place to prevent undue influence by the parent company—hence the "firewall." Firewalled labs are allowed under the
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act as long as they are approved by the
Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC says it requires extra safeguards be put in place at firewalled labs that separate testing from manufacturing to avoid the skewing of test results.
Why it's news: The CPSC recently accredited
four more firewalled labs, two of which are owned by Mattel, the nation's largest toy maker. Those facilities join
seven other Mattel firewalled labs approved by the CPSC in August 2009. Critics have
raised concerns about Mattel's firewalled labs, noting that since 2007 the toymaker has recalled millions of toys because they were tainted with lead or had dangerous small parts. Only two other manufacturers have firewalled labs.
The CPSIA requires that manufacturers of children's products test their products at a CPSC-recognized laboratory to meet required safety certifications such as those for cribs and pacifiers. Testing is also done to ferret out lead, small parts and other hazards. The agency has approved about 250 third-party laboratories to perform such tests. The accredited firewalled labs were able to show the safety agency that their testing would provide equal or greater consumer safety protection than an independent lab. In addition, the labs must put procedures in place that ensure the CPSC is notified immediately of any attempt by the manufacturer, private labeler, or other interested party to hide or exert influence over test results and to ensure that any allegations of undue influence may be reported confidentially to the agency.
