Consumer Product Safety

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Register now to join Crowell attorneys Warren Lehrenbaum and Amy Symonds, along with guest speaker Ashish Deshmukh, Principal of Product Safety and Stewardship, Environment & Health at Ramboll, as they examine the rapidly evolving landscape of PFAS regulations and what they mean for companies that manufacture, import, sell, or distribute products containing PFAS materials. With overlapping federal and state compliance obligations now imminent, this session will provide actionable guidance to help companies determine whether they are impacted and how to meet their obligations. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT.

Continue Reading Save the Date: Webinar on Critical Reporting and Labeling Requirements for Products Containing PFAS: What Companies Need to Know (and DO) Now!

Navigating a Shifting Landscape 

The U.S. pet industry is booming—an estimated $143.6 billion market in 2023, with over 152 million American households that own at least one pet. Alongside this growth, however, comes increasing scrutiny regarding the safety of pet products. Recent high-profile incidents, such as Petmate’s nationwide recall of Pet Zone pet toys due to non-compliant button cell batteries, have highlighted not only the risks to pets and households, but also the potential for significant financial and reputational harm to companies.  

Continue Reading Pet Product Regulation May be Nipping at the Heels 

PFAS compliance in cosmetics has become a critical and growing legal risk for beauty and personal care companies, driven by an expanding patchwork of state bans across 14+ jurisdictions and increasingly sophisticated consumer class action litigation that companies must address proactively rather than reactively. Click here to continue reading the full version of this alert.

When a consumer safety complaint arises, having the right procedures in place can make all the difference in minimizing legal and regulatory exposure. This cross-functional checklist is designed to help legal, compliance, engineering, manufacturing, customer service, and marketing teams stay aligned, act decisively, and respond with confidence when a potential product safety issue emerges.

Continue Reading Is Your Company Prepared? A Checklist for Responding to Consumer Safety Complaints  

A new lawsuit alleging that major gaming platforms deliberately use psychological techniques to addict minors reflects a broader litigation trend in video games and mirrors social media addiction cases already yielding significant jury verdicts. Click here to continue reading the full version of this alert.

Day 4 marked the close of the ICPHSO 2026 Annual Meeting & Training Symposium in Orlando, Florida following a jam-packed week of education, exploration, and meaningful dialogue about the future of product safety and regulatory compliance in the U.S. and beyond. The day began with the traditional passing of the gavel to welcome incoming ICPHSO president Dani Cugini while acknowledging and celebrating the accomplishments of outgoing President Chris Harvey.  

Then, in a first ever for ICPHSO, participants were thrust into the Courtroom for a mock-trial experience, giving many product safety professionals their first inside look at the complexities and challenges of litigating safety and products liability issues. Crowell’s “court reporter,” Sean Ward, was on the scene with a riveting recap of all the action. As court was called to recess, Day 4’s short program concluded with a series of plenary sessions highlighting the consumer perspective and the need for inclusive and proactive safety solutions that recognize the dynamic challenges faced by vulnerable populations and ensure accessibility to safety information for all. 

Below is a closer look at select sessions from the final day of ICPHSO 2026. 

Continue Reading Day 4 of the ICPHSO Symposium: Courtroom Drama & Consumer Voices  

Innovation is a word that carries real weight in product safety. Is there an emerging “duty to innovate” — a duty to proactively adopt feasible, safer technologies — or is innovation simply a good practice that may also reduce risk? That is exactly what a panel of industry and legal professionals tackled at this year’s ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium, with the goal of surfacing a practical toolkit for product safety professionals on when to push innovation, how to document feasibility and tradeoffs, and how to navigate regulatory momentum without stalling products that should go to market.

The panel brought together four voices with rare depth across law, engineering, and corporate governance: Kyran Hoff of GE Appliances, Meghan McMeel of Crowell & Moring, John McNulty of Google LLC, and moderator George Wray of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

Here are the four key themes that shaped the conversation.

Continue Reading Is There a Duty to Innovate? Key Takeaways From ICPHSO’s Most Timely Panel

What does Taylor Swift have to do with product safety? According to the panelists who took the stage for the first plenary session at the ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium, quite a lot. As the opening lyric reminded the room, looking backward may be the only way to look forward.

Moderated by Molly Lynyak of ASTM International and featuring Joan Lawrence of The Toy Association, Cheryl Falvey of Crowell & Moring, and Dana Baiocco of Clyde & Co., the panel walked through more than five decades of product safety history — and drew some sharp lessons for where the industry goes next.

Continue Reading The Product Safety Eras Tour at ICPHSO: Lessons from the Past, Challenges for the Future

Day one of the ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium in Orlando, Florida made one thing crystal-clear: compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. From the call for open safety collaboration and human-centered design to urgent warnings about siloed post-market surveillance and the double-edged promise of AI, the message resonated throughout the room: product safety is a business imperative, a trust builder, and, increasingly, a competitive differentiator. Here is a closer look at the two themes that defined the conversation on day one.

Continue Reading Day One at the ICPHSO Symposium: Compliance Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling

On December 12, 2025, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) published a direct final rule updating the mandatory safety standard for bassinets and cradles to align with ASTM F2194-25, the latest version of the voluntary consumer safety specification.[1] The rule describes responsibilities for manufacturers, including importers, and incorporates the new ASTM standard by reference. While the rule does not expressly state responsibilities for retailers, under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, retailers may not knowingly sell products that violate the applicable safety standards,[2] nor can such products be lawfully imported into the US.[3]

Continue Reading CPSC Finalizes 2025 Bassinets and Cradles Safety Standard