Panel Supports Giving FDA Recall Power

The U.S. government's food and drug regulatory agency would be empowered to order mandatory recalls of products deemed a risk to consumers under recommendations from an advisory commission created in response to concerns about recalls of dangerous toothpaste, dog food and toys.

The panel is set to inform President George W. Bush Tuesday of its recommendations for the Food and Drug Administration. The panel was established in July to study import safety and was led by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

"The report that we're putting forward has 50 different recommendations in 14 categories on how we can make the products that consumers buy safer," Leavitt told CBS' The Early Show. "More authority, for example, that we can certify products before they get to the United States that they meet our standards."

CBS News has learned the commission will also call for strengthened penalties for unsafe products.

The panel also will urge increasing the presence of U.S. inspectors from Customs, the Border Patrol, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and other agencies in countries that are major exporters to the United States, an administration official said Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the recommendations had not been released publicly.

The official said the proposals would strengthen CPSC's authority by making it illegal for companies to knowingly sell a recalled product; by authorizing the CPSC to issue follow-up recall announcements, and by requiring recalling companies to report supplier and delivery information. Further, CPSC would be able to impose asset forfeiture penalties for criminal offenses.

A third recommendation calls for establishing a certification program - likened to a seal of approval - for companies with a proven track record for meeting safety standards. The Bush administration sees that as a powerful tool because it presumably would make certified suppliers more attractive to big retailers.

In addition, regulators would be able to concentrate on countries and companies that do not have a reputation for meeting certification standards.

Another proposal calls for focusing resources on riskier products - tires, for example.

The FDA, which is part of the Health and Human Services Department, oversees the regulation of medical devices and more than $1 trillion annually worth of food, drugs, cosmetics, animal feed and other products, which account for 25 cents of every dollar spent each year by Americans.

"Consumers enjoy in this country among the highest standards in the world, but we know that there will be more and more imports coming in," Leavitt told The Early Show. "We need to raise our standards, have higher penalties, make certain that people are, in fact, using best practices, and if they're not, we need to make it lot harder for them to get products here."

Currently, the FDA lacks the authority to order a recall of products when problems arise, but works with manufacturers on voluntary recalls. Often, the government gets a product recalled by warning the company it could face bad publicity if it does not withdraw the item. The new proposal would give the agency the authority to require a recall - giving it far more clout. Congress would have to approve such a step.

The CPSC, which oversees the safety of consumer products, has come under fire in recent months amid a string of recalls involving lead in toys made in China. Consumer groups and members of Congress have criticized the agency and its head, Nancy Nord, for not acting more quickly to get the items off store shelves. Like the FDA, the CPSC works with industry to arrange voluntary recalls of hazardous products.

"Nancy does a very good job, and she has a difficult job," Leavitt told The Early Show. "We have seen imports dramatically increase, and we're likely to see them increase even more, as much as triple between now and 2015."

Leavitt has likened the finding of unsafe imports to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

"The good news is we're finding them and we're getting them off the shelves," Leavitt told The Early Show.