BILL NUMBER: S5675A

SPONSOR: REICHLIN-MELNICK
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the manufacture
and sale of seasonal and decorative lighting products containing lead

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to minimize, and eventually stop
altogether, the negative impact of lead in seasonal and decorative
lighting products lead.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. The Public Health Law is amended by adding a new section
1376-b, which reads as follows: § 1376-b. Manufacture and sale of
seasonal and decorative lighting products containing lead.

1. Defines "seasonal and decorative lighting product".
              

2. Each SADLP manufactured, sold or distributed in New York State that
has an electrical cord casing in which lead is present in a quantity
greater than one hundred parts per million must have a warning label.

3. At minimal, the warning label must read, "WARNING: HANDLING THE COAT-
ED ELECTRICAL WIRE OF THIS PRODUCT MAY EXPOSE YOU TO LEAD. WASH HANDS
THOROUGHLY AFTER USE."

4. Any person, firm, corporation or association who violates this
section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000
dollars for each such violation.

5. The Commissioner may waive the provisions of this section in whole or
in part upon finding by the commissioner in a particular instance that
there is no significant threat to public health.

Section 2. Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Decorative and seasonal holiday lights have been shown to contain poten-
tially unsafe levels of lead. Several independent studies, which
followed the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) standard wipe
test to see how much lead would come off on someone's hands, revealed
that some brands contained more than 30 times the levels regulators
permit in children's products. One 2008 study published in the Journal
of Environmental Health, found that nearly all the light sets tested had
levels that surpassed the Environmental Protection Agency's limit for
windowsills and floors.

Exposure to lead has been repeatedly proven to be attributed to serious
health problems - including attacks on the brain and central nervous
system, heart and kidney disease, reduced fertility and depression -
with severe consequences for children. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), there is no safe blood level concentration.


While federal law bans the sale and manufacture of lead in house paint
and gasoline and New York enacts stringent limits only on paint on chil-
dren's toys and furniture and some glazed tableware, the sale of most
other consumer products containing lead in the state are not as strictly
regulated.

Holiday/decorative lights - the vast majority of them manufactured over-
seas - have lead applied to wire covering to keep the plastic from
cracking and acts as a flame retardant. This bill would require any
products containing lead, sold in the State of New York, to have an
explicit warning label advising that the product may expose the consumer
to the substance with clear instructions to wash hands.

As lead is not readily absorbed through skin, the main worry regarding
exposure stems from ingesting the traces that are left on the hands of a
person after they have finished handling the lights. This legislation
would afford much needed protection to the consumer from unnecessary
high levels of lead through a simple warning label.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-20: S.3493-A - Print Number 3493A
2017-18: S.4465 - Referred to Health
Similar to:
2015-16: S.1712 - Referred to Health
2013-14: S.2199 - Reported and Committed to Consumer Protection
2011-12: S1644 - Referred to Health

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

There are no fiscal implications associated with the passage of this
legislation.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.