The GOP Is Fine With You Getting Your Fingers Chopped Off
Donald Trump’s yes-men at the Consumer Product Safety Commission are withdrawing a series of proposed safety rules, including an appendage-saving safety mandate for table saws. This will mean thousands more fingers lost per year.
As the GOP’s deregulatory bonanza continues apace, the next casualty could be thousands of American fingers. (Edwin Remsberg / VWPics / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
One of the last remaining regulatory firewalls between corporate cost cutting and consumer safety is crumbling, risking the lives and limbs of everyday Americans to boost major industries’ bottom line.
Months after the president fired three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission without cause, the commission withdrew a series of proposed safety rules, including an appendage-saving saw mandate fiercely opposed by some of the richest tool manufacturers in the country.
Last September, the administration withdrew several proposed consumer product rules, including a Biden-era mandate that would have required US tool manufacturers to add automatic anti-finger brakes to consumer and industrial table saws.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.