Former CPSC officials and advocates warn that recent leadership removals and staff cuts have stalled important safety rules at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, potentially putting consumers—especially children—at risk. Trista Hamsmith, who lost her daughter to a swallowed button battery, helped pass a 2022 law but says toys remain insufficiently protected. Ousted commissioners allege unlawful firings and pause more than a dozen rules; the CPSC says the removals were lawful and that enforcement and rulemaking continue. With the agency down to one commissioner, critics say it cannot approve new protections.
Former CPSC Officials Warn Cuts Could Endanger Consumers: "People Will Die" — Button Battery Toy Rule Stalled
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has lost senior leaders and staff over the past year, and two former commissioners warn those gaps are delaying safety rules that could prevent injuries and deaths.
Personal Tragedy Spurs Advocacy
For Trista Hamsmith, the risks are personal. In December 2020, her 18-month-old daughter Reese died after swallowing a coin-shaped button battery she had removed from a remote control two months earlier. The battery burned through Reese’s esophagus; despite multiple surgeries, doctors were unable to save her.
“I prayed and I prayed, but we didn't get her back. I got to hold her again, but she was gone,” Hamsmith recalled. “She was a baby and her life was taken too soon.”
Channeling her grief into action, Hamsmith founded a nonprofit and helped pass “Reese’s Law” in 2022, which tightened access to button batteries in some household products. However, that law did not cover toys, and Hamsmith has pushed the CPSC to apply the same strict protections to toys that contain button batteries.
Rulemaking Stalled After Leadership Changes
That effort stalled this summer after the administration removed three Democratic commissioners from the commission, reducing the five-member agency to two commissioners and, later, to a single commissioner after a resignation. Former CPSC officials say the removals and staff cuts have frozen or delayed more than a dozen proposed safety rules, including a toy-specific rule to limit children’s access to button batteries.
“This rule would have simply made toys, the thing that we intentionally put in our children's hand, as safe as everything else they get their hands on,” said one former commissioner involved in the battery rule effort. “It's as common sense as you could possibly get and somehow it's not moving forward.”
Ousted commissioners Alex Hoehn-Saric and Mary Boyle, among others, allege the removals were unlawful and are pursuing legal action to be reinstated. They argue the CPSC was created as an independent, bipartisan body precisely to keep politics out of crucial health-and-safety decisions.
CPSC: Firings Lawful; Work Continues
The CPSC issued a statement saying the removals were lawful and that the changes have “had no impact on the CPSC’s mission to protect American families from unsafe products.” The agency also said it measures success by how many unsafe products are kept away from consumers, not strictly by the number of rules enacted.
Still, former commissioners note that the CPSC’s quorum rules require at least two commissioners to approve new regulations. With only one commissioner in place after the resignation of Republican Doug Dziak (reported in some accounts as “Dougg Dziak”), critics say the commission currently lacks the ability to finalize new rules.
Industry Response
The Toy Association told reporters it is not opposed in principle to stronger safeguards around button batteries but maintains that current science and standards do not demonstrate that the proposed new measures would improve safety. The association argues further study and consensus are needed before imposing stricter requirements on toys.
Why This Matters
Button batteries are small and common but can cause catastrophic internal injuries if swallowed by children. Advocates say straightforward design and packaging changes could reduce those risks; opponents argue the evidence for benefit must be clear before regulators act. Meanwhile, grieving parents like Hamsmith say the stakes are literal life and death.
Note on sourcing: Some original reports named a commissioner as "Richard Trumka" in connection with these events; that name appears inconsistent with widely known public figures and should be verified. Likewise, the name Doug Dziak has appeared in some accounts as "Dougg Dziak." These discrepancies have been highlighted for fact-checking.
