You might want to follow Wolfson on Twitter. As chief spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Wolfson breaks the news about all product recalls and consumer safety issues. On Thursday, Wolfson Tweeted about a massive recall of 1.2 million Graco highchairs that can become unstable and tip over unexpectedly.
What does the CPSC cover?
It’s easier to know what we don’t cover than what we do, because there are 15,000 products that we deal with. We deal with everything inside and outside of one’s home except for cars, tires, food, drugs, cosmetics and guns.
How do you regulate it?
We deal with product recalls. We help to write new standards or to improve the standards for how a product is to be manufactured. We investigate on a daily basis what happens with consumer products. We educate the public on specific dangers as well as seasonal hazards. We coordinate very closely with our international partners because now we are dealing with a global marketplace.
What do you recall most frequently?
The most high-profile recalled product in recent months and recent years are cribs. There is no product that is more important to the safety of a child, especially in those initial months and years.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
We live in a world now of headlines and communications by 140 characters. It’s rising about all this news that is coming fast and furious at consumers. We have peaks of attention, such as the Graco highchair recall. But tomorrow, we may do a recall of only 1,000 units of a product. It’s a constant challenge by CPSC to get consumers and to get parents to pay attention to as many announcements as possible, because so much of what we do has an impact on families.
— Susan Ferrechio
