Building a Better World, Together
By Consumer Reports
Button Battery Protection
Every year, more than 3,500 people are reported to have swallowed lithium button batteries, the small, coin-shaped kind found in countless household items, including watches, toys, electronics, flashing jewelry, and even “singing” greeting cards.
Once ingested, these batteries can cause serious injuries and even death. Without immediate medical care, permanent harm can occur within 2 hours, and damage can continue even after a battery has been removed. Unfortunately, because these batteries are so ubiquitous and the early symptoms of ingesting them can resemble those of other childhood illnesses, parents often don’t immediately realize their child has swallowed one.
For these reasons, CR helped develop—and spent the past year urging federal legislators to pass—Reese’s Law. Named in honor of Reese Hamsmith, an 18-month-old who died in December 2020 after swallowing a battery from a remote control, the bipartisan measure would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to create safety standards to prevent such tragedies.
It passed both chambers of Congress this summer and in August was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Reese’s Law will require that products with button batteries, as well as battery packaging, be more child-resistant, and will mandate clear warning labels on products and packaging and in user manuals.
To learn more about how to keep children safe from button batteries, and what to do if one is ingested, see the National Capital Poison Center Button Battery Ingestion Triage and Treatment Guideline. CR’s Guide to a Safe and Sound Baby Nursery also offers many other safety tips to protect your child.
CR Privacy Update
Inadequate digital privacy laws have left Americans vulnerable to the rampant misuse of their personal data, from our financial and health statuses to our shopping histories and relationship preferences. So CR joined over 40 groups calling on the Federal Trade Commission to fill the gap, and helped map out how the commission could do so under its unfair-practices authority. In August, the FTC announced that it would move forward—“a critical step for providing basic privacy protections for all Americans,” says Justin Brookman, CR’s director of technology policy.
More Access to Clean Cars
What’s at stake: Americans are increasingly eager to buy electric vehicles (EVs), according to CR’s largest-ever nationally representative survey on the subject, conducted this year. Yet sizable challenges still limit their adoption: Sixty-one percent of those not currently planning to buy or lease an EV (if they were buying a vehicle today) said the barriers include concerns over charging logistics. And more than half said the same about range limitations and the cost of buying and owning an EV.
How CR has your back: CR has been pushing policymakers for measures that would address these and other barriers. The federal Inflation Reduction Act, for example, which passed in early August, expanded the tax credit program for consumers who buy EVs.
Now California is going further. In late August, the state’s clean air agency approved a landmark rule to accelerate the transition to zero-emissions cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The Advanced Clean Cars II regulations, which CR endorsed and helped improve, will increase clean vehicle options, speed the development of EV charging infrastructure, and require all new vehicles sold in California to be zero-emissions or plug-in hybrids by 2035.
And the 17 “clean car” states that previously adopted California’s auto emissions regulations are likely to follow its lead here as well.
What you can do: Learn more about “Electric Cars and Plug-In Hybrids That Qualify for Tax Credits Under the Inflation Reduction Act” and “Which EVs Qualify for the New Electric Vehicle Tax Credit? It’s Complicated.” And find more shopping advice in CR’s full EV and hybrid ratings and buying guide.
Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the November 2022 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2022, Consumer Reports, Inc.
