{"id":9764,"date":"2016-11-27T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-27T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/as-batteries-keep-catching-fire-u-s-safety-agency-prepares-for-change\/"},"modified":"2016-11-27T10:57:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-27T18:57:00","slug":"as-batteries-keep-catching-fire-u-s-safety-agency-prepares-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/as-batteries-keep-catching-fire-u-s-safety-agency-prepares-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"As Batteries Keep Catching Fire, U.S. Safety Agency Prepares For Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alina Selyukh<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Picture this: You’re at a park, on a walk, with a baby. A friendly middle-aged man approaches you and tells you your stroller could be really dangerous.<\/p>\n

You might think, this man is crazy<\/em>. But maybe not if you knew he’s the nation’s product safety chief.<\/p>\n

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Elliot Kaye expects to step down as chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission during the Trump administration, becoming one of the commissioners.<\/strong> Raquel Zaldivar\/NPR<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Raquel Zaldivar\/NPR<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I couldn’t live with myself if I walked away and it turned out that that child was harmed when I could’ve just said something,” Elliot Kaye says. His voice is soft-spoken and his worldview seems to fluctuate between pride in saving lives and the unease of someone who’s seen many things go wrong in unexpected ways. “You can’t help it; you just automatically see the hazards.”<\/p>\n

Kaye is the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It’s an agency that indeed typically gets the spotlight when things do go wrong \u2014 when furniture topples<\/a> over toddlers, when window blinds strangle children<\/a>, or, more recently, when smartphones explode<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And to many, the CPSC<\/a> is the recall agency. But considering how tiny it is, its mission is vast. With the exception of cars, food, medications and a few other things, for thousands of products we buy and assume<\/em> someone’s made sure are safe \u2014 cribs, lawn mowers, toasters, power tools, washing machines, office chairs \u2014 that someone is the CPSC.<\/p>\n

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