By Eleonora di Liscia
Sometimes you go to a movie and see a really great picture. The acting is terrific, the script is brilliant, and the director really knows his camera angles. But maybe that great movie didn’t just come about because of the actors, the writer and director. Maybe someone behind the scenes enabled all those players to do great work by making sure that everything on the picture ran smoothly.

And that’s a little like Obama and consumer safety. Sure, there has been some high profile legislation such as Wall Street Reform and the Food Safety Modernization Act. But some of the change is in the way things run. It’s making sure information gets to the right people and coordinating between government agencies. It’s reversing years of neglect and resetting priorities. The kind of change that is not sexy and not easy to explain but is important nonetheless.

Overall, Obama is significantly more proactive on consumer safety than former President Bush. A December 2010 OMBWatch report stated:

“Unquestionably, Obama has dramatically changed course from the Bush years. The Bush administration took a hands-off approach to regulation, regularly failing to take a stand against repeat violators. As a result, uncertainty permeated regulatory agencies as staff approached their duties under the law tentatively. The Obama team has moved to change this culture by nominating people interested in regulatory enforcement, by increasing resources for regulatory activities and by showing a greater willingness to use the regulatory tools at its disposal.” (http://www.ombwatch.org/files/regs/obamamidtermenforcementreport.pdf, p. 4.)

For example, while the FDA used warning letters under Bush, it no longer issues multiple notices before resorting to tougher action. And, the number of warning letters overall has increased significantly from the Bush years. For example, in 2008, three FDA agencies issued a combined total of 104 warning letters, which more than doubled to 246 in 2009 under Obama.

The FDA has also taken steps to work more smoothly with state, local and international enforcement partners in order to more quickly address problems.

In March, 2009, Obama formed the Food Safety Working Group. This task force recommended a tracking system to help investigators quickly pinpoint the source of food contamination. This recommendation became part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, passed by the heroic lame duck 2010 Congress and hailed as “the most sweeping overhaul of America’s food safety system since 1938,”in a Jan. 4, 2011 CNN wire article. For the first time, the FDA can issue mandatory recalls of contaminated food.

Even before the Act, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had shifted priorities toward preventing rather than passively reacting to food-borne illness.

The FDA has worked to improve its tracking of post-marketing drug studies after a 2009 Government Accounting Office report revealed a lack of adequate procedures. The FDA can expedite approval for new drugs as long as manufacturers perform post-marketing studies, but FDA wasn’t following up to make sure these studies were done.

As part of his “We Can’t Wait” initiative, Obama bypassed a deadlocked Congress on prescription drug shortages. An October 31, 2011 executive order directed the FDA to broaden reporting of potential drug shortages, expedite regulatory reviews to prevent shortages and investigate illegal price gouging.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had been crippled by years of abuse and neglect, which Obama has striven to reverse. “The CPSC is in really bad shape,” David Arkush of Public Citizen said in a May 2009 Los Angeles Times article. “They’ve been underfunded for years and demoralized.” Obama quickly appointed a fresh face, Inez Moore Tennenbaum, to lead the commission, replacing Nancy Nord, a former lobbyist who argued against increasing the agencies’ authority, staff and money.

In September, 2009, the Administration developed a “Recall Search” database, which allows the public to report unsafe products and get safety updates. As of April 2010, the CPSC is coordinating more smoothly with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, allowing both agencies to more quickly identify risks from imported products. This partnering has helped block the import of lead-tainted toys.

The CPSC has availed itself of its expanded enforcement powers. In March, 2010, CPSC fined a children’s product importer $2 million for violating lead standards. The Agency also undertook the largest compliance investigation in its history involving contaminated Chinese drywall.
Responding to consumer pleas that toys be made safe before going to market, CPSC approved a new rule in November, 2011 requiring periodic third-party testing and certification of toys and children products.

In October, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission collaborated with the wireless industry to get an agreement that provides for mobile phone users to receive automatic alerts before triggering overage charges.

Last but not least is Wall Street reform. In July, 2010, Obama signed “a sweeping expansion of federal financial regulation,” according to the New York Times. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act subjects more companies to federal oversight, such as credit derivatives and payday loan vendors. Latino leaders favored the Act for protecting the many Hispanics who rely on non-traditional money services such as check cashing and prepaid cards. National Council of La Raza called the Act “an incredible victory for consumers” and “the most significant banking reform legislation in 75 years.”

The Act is also intended to prevent the need for future bail-outs and to crack down on abusive mortgage practices, for example by simplifying contracts to disclose hidden fees.

The Act also creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPC), a “neighborhood cop” overseeing financial institutions, according to CFPC’s website. However, Republicans are so threatened by financial regulation that besides trying to repeal the bill, they have blocked Obama’s nominees to head the CFPB, first Elizabeth Warren and now Richard Cordray, an Ohio attorney general who took on big banks. Thus underscoring yet again the need to return more Democrats to Congress as well as reelecting Obama.