20 - MANCHESTER HERALD. Mon., Nov. IS, 1982 Who's uglies Draft order District seeks BUSINESS ,s . V around? ruled illegal help on EMTs What happened to the product safety agency? ... page 11 ... page 4 ... page 10 McDonald’s Corp. recently recalled lO million toys be reduced or eliminated in cost-effective ways. How industry to develop its own standards. and canceled a major promotion when the plastic many children are alive today because they couldn’t Meanwhile, reports by manufacturers to the commis­ gadgets were found to be potentially dangerous to open the difficult caps on aspirin? Products associated sion have declined. Manufacturers are supposed to Clear tonight; Manchester, Conn. children. While this incident ended happily — no Your with known hazards, injuries and deaths have been notify the commission at once of potential hazards or Tuesday,_ Nov. 16, 1982 children were injured and no damaging publicity has dropped from CPSC priorities. face possible penalties. But the record is: 1979, 201 mild Wednesday foiiowed — the question nags: Money's As R. David Pittle, a former two-term commissioner reports; 1980,147 reports; 1981, 21 reports. And 1982? A 25 Cents Why were these toys manufactured in the first place and now technical director at Consumers Union, says, mere 96 reports. — See page 2 (by Schaper Manufacturing Co.) considering the tests W orth "A social judgment was made by the Office of Manage­ The message is unmistakable. You, the consumer, are all toys must pass? Smart consumers pushed the alarm Sylvia Porter ment and Budget that the work this agency does could increasingly on your own when it comes to product safe­ button on this recall; McDpnald's swift response was, in be decreased by 25 percent to 30 percent.” That ty. It’s easier to change products than people, but the in­ the words of Consumer Product Safety Commission translates into deaths and injuries. dependent agency cannot safeguard you as once in­ Chairman Nancy Harvey Steorts, a "model" of industry When the CPSC received the news on its budget cut tended. cooperation. last year, it dropped many projects, including evalua­ In essence, the warning to you, .the consumer, is, The alert over the little plastic toys, and new reports consumer products,' (Commerce’s main function, tion of clothes dryers (fire hazard) and rider lawn ‘'Stop misusing the product.” It is not to you, the of possible dangers with kerosene heaters, have brought remember, is to promote business and manufacturing.) mowers. These mowers tend to tip when on a hill and manufacturer, “Stop designing products that can harm 'We deliver' the CPSC back into the news. Budget Director David Stockman’s own bright notion continue to cut when the engine is in reverse. The consumers.” take the tale, consumers, for what it is. How is it faring in our new era of diminished interest was to abolish the agency completely, an idea he has result: 13,000 injuries per year. If you want the product, make sure it’s safe and assume in consumer activitism and consumer protection? since abandoned. The commission, in short, has been pushed into a the responsibility of using it safely. fm ' Of all government agencies, the CPSC was devastSted Loss of staff and money has forced a thorough reactive, rather than a preventive, role. (Save money every day! Sylvia Porter’s Financial the most — with a budget cut of 30 percent and a staff reassessment of the commission’s priorities and it no At the same time, the chairman, who is willing to en- Almanac for 1983 is a comprehensive desk calendar and slash of 25 percent in 1981, on top of several years of longer can afford to develop leads on which product dorse mandatory standards for a product when consumer handbook featuring Porter’s best money­ Astronauts static budgets. In fact, the Reagan administration areas to investigate. The CPSC gets most of its reports necessary, favors an increase in educational activities saving advice and tips for organizing your budget. Send wanted the Commerce Department to absorb the com­ on hazards from its data on injuries and from the Con­ for the commission and is moving in that direction. $8.95 plus $1 for mailing and handling to Financial mission — an absurd idea, since the CPSC was designed sumer Hotline. The CPSC originally was uniquely empowered to do Almanac in care of the Manchester Herald, 4400 John­ to be an independent regulatory agency charged with Roughly 30,000 deaths and 36 million injuries — all something about defective, hazardous products — via son Drive, Fairway, Kan. 66205. Make checks payable to reducing unreasonable risks of injury associated with product related — occur each year. Many of these could recalls, develooing industry standards and encouraging Universal Press Syndicate.) back home r-/n Brief- Military contracts are key I EDWARDS AIR FORGE BASE, Calif. spacewalking gear. (UPI) — Living up to their “we deliver” The (Columbia, which now has traveled Critic to speak motto, four astronauts flew the space more than 10 million miles in space, was shuttle to a smooth landing at dawn directed to the 15,000-foot-long concrete today from a $250 million mission that runway used for its July 4 landing H.ARTFORD — Jeff Greenfield, CBS' resident Sanders thriving even in recession proved the Columbia can launch because the long, broad, normally dry critic and the author of several books about satellites. lakebed runways were muddy from re­ .American politics, will be the featured speaker at Vance Brand, Robert Overmyer, cent rains. the Connecticut Business and Industry NASHUA, N.H. (UPI) — In the midst of a national tisubmarine radar systems and its electronic recession, Sanders Associates had its sales jump by 20 countermeasures. Joseph Allen and William Lenoir landed It came to a stop in the middle of the .^.ss()ciation's■ Annual Dinner and Meeting at the just eight minutes after the sun rose over runway, with plenty of unused rollout Hartford Civic Center Nov. 23. percent last year and now wants to hire 700 new A couple of attempts to venture into more commer­ employees and begin work on a new facility. cial electronic areas proved unsuccessful and when the the Mojave Desert 60 miles north of Los space ahead. He replaces Elizabeth Drew, who was originally Angeles. A NASA spokesman said a cursory scheduled to speak A success story? Yes, but you might have difficulty Vietnam War wound down, Sanders found its sales curve telling by reading sections of the electronics firm’s an­ flattening. The world’s first four-man spaceship examination of the black and white Greenfield is a familiar personality on CBS TV's a crew climbed out of the Coiumbia 35 rocketplane found it in good shape, with nual report. Saving the situation was the continual effort by the morning and Sunday telecasts for his criticism minutes after landing, smiling and no apparent damage to its glassy insula­ about the quality of TV programming. He views Expecting a sales growth of 25 percent in the firm’s United States and Soviet Union to develop ever more sophisticated weapons and tools of war. * shaking hands with awaiting officiais. tion tiles. him.self as a "columnist who happens to be on computer graphics division. Sariders President Jack The ship, protected from the fiery re­ Bowers sounded almost apologetic in explaining why “It’s a never ending chess game of action and reac­ Then they strolied around the winged television and happens to talk about the media. " entry heat by those tiles, slowed from they rose by only 11 percent in a year when many firms tion,” said Bowers. “You can’t build a good, new spaceship and looked it over. SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA IS PASSED BY CHASE PLANE ON LANDING more than 17,(KXI mph to the landing just went under. system and then rest on your laurels.” The space freighter, flying a flawless . five-day orbital fllg h t^d ed today at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The key to the 32-year-old company’s success was that But by the late 1970s, Sanders’ management (fecided it course back from orbit, broke through speed of an airliner in less than an hour. it's other division — for many years its only division — is needed more balance in its operations. To help chart thin clouds and touched down at 6:33 The Columbia 5 astronauts prepared for the trip home when they clo s^ the Sales decline one of the largest suppliers of military electronic equip­ that course, Sanders brought in Bowers, a former assis­ a.m. local time (9:33 a.m. EST) for an impressive conciusion to its fifth orbital ship’s big payload bay doors at 5:31 a.m. ment. Given the current national feeling about defense tant Navy secretary, as its new president. Hailed as best for grade 6 flight. EST for the re-entry back into the at­ EAST HARTFORD — Stanford Cohen, president in the White House. Congress and the nation, it’s a nice Almost immediately. Bowers moved to diversify the “Hey, Roy, are we down now?” asked mosphere. of .Mott's Super Markets, Inc., operators of ace in the hole. company’'S interests by using technology similar to that ShvopRitc " supermarkets in Connecticut and developed for military uses to develop the firm’s com­ co-pilot Overmyer, suggesting the lan­ Closure of the 60-foot-long doors was a Massachusetts, has reported results of the com­ Jl '.ST 32 ^H.ARS ago. 11 men working on U.S. Navy puter graphics division, which produces display tubes ding was so smooth he couldn’t feel it.