President Barack Obama was set to launch on Tuesday a new effort to protect US consumers, boosting the Consumer Product Safety Commission's budget by 71 percent, the White House said.

Obama's 2009 budget allocates $107-million to the CPSC, a 71-percent increase over fiscal 2007, which ended on September 30, 2007, according to the White House.

"This is almost three quarters of the way to meeting the president's goal of doubling CPSC's funding," the White House said in a statement.

Obama was also set to announce the nomination of Inez Moore Tenenbaum as CPSC chair and Robert Adler as a new commissioner with the agency.

In a bid to "revitalize the agency," Obama will increase the number of the agency's commissioners from three to five in the coming months, the statement said. The CPSC has operated with three commissioners for the past 15 years.

"It is a top priority of my administration to ensure that the products the American people depend on are safe. We must do more to protect the American public — especially our nation's children — from being harmed by unsafe products," Obama said in a statement.

I am confident this new leadership at the CPSC will revitalize the agency and achieve the high standard of product safety that the American people deserve."

In 2007, the beleaguered product safety watchdog juggled slim finances and low staff levels as it handled a record number of product recalls, the majority involving lead-laced toys and articles for children made in China.

AFP

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