Sensible Safeguards: The Gift That Keeps on Giving, Especially During the Holidays

WASHINGTON — This holiday season, some of the most valuable presents Americans will receive are the gifts of health, safety and economic security through our nation’s strong system of standards and safeguards. Just in time for the holidays, the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards has produced a report detailing five areas in which protections significantly help make the December and New Year festivities a safer and more joyful experience.

The report, Sensible Safeguards: The Gift That Keeps On Giving, examines:

• Auto and highway standards that have reduced injuries and deaths during the high-travel holiday period;
• New credit card rules that protect holiday shoppers;
• Food safety regulations that help prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses from poultry and holiday treats;
• Product safety laws that ensure the gifts we give our children will not harm them; and
• The broad success of state and local recycling initiatives that ensure that Christmas trees, gift boxes and wrapping paper don’t end up in landfills.

The information documenting safer autos, greater financial security, safer food and toys, and a cleaner environment counters the anti-regulatory rhetoric heard from some in Congress and underscores the need to continue to improve the umbrella of protection. The battle in Congress likely will continue in 2013, as some lawmakers are sure to push proposals that would dramatically hamper the ability of the government to issue new and better safeguards.

Sensible Safeguards: The Gift That Keeps On Giving reveals how regulatory protections tangibly enhance the quality of our lives during the holidays and explores policy challenges that lie ahead in 2013.

“The holidays are a time when friends and family gather together, sometimes from great distances, to celebrate and exchange gifts,” said Virginia Robnett, Coordinator of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards. “It’s easy to forget all of the ways that public protections keep us safe, whether we’re traveling on the road, buying toys for the kids, or preparing holiday feasts for our loved ones. That’s why it’s crucial to maintain a system of standards and safeguards: to keep protecting Americans from threats that are too big for any one person to protect themselves against.”