calls for government regulation

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

September 16, 2007/ New York TIMES
In Turnaround, Industries Seek U.S. Regulations

By ERIC LIPTON and GARDINER HARRIS

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 — After years of favoring the hands-off doctrine
of the Bush administration, some of the nation's biggest industries
are pushing for something they have long resisted: new federal
regulations.

For toys and cars, antifreeze and fireworks, popcorn and produce and
cigarettes and light bulbs, among other products, industry groups or
major manufacturers are calling for federal health, safety and
environmental mandates. Some of those industries are abandoning years
of efforts to block such measures, often in alliance with the Bush
administration, which pledged to ease what it views as costly,
unnecessary rules.

The consequences for consumers, though, are not yet clear. The
tactical shift by industry groups is motivated by a confluence of
self-interests: growing competition from inexpensive imports that do
not meet voluntary standards, and a desire to head off liability
lawsuits and pre-empt tough state laws or legal actions that were a
response to laissez-faire Bush administration policies. Concerns that
Democrats could soon expand their control in Washington have also
prompted manufacturers or producers to seek regulations that they
consider the least burdensome, regulatory experts say.

"There seems to be, at the moment, a fair amount of efforts under way
by individual industries to put into statute what had either
previously been voluntary consensus standards or industry goals," said
Rosario Palmieri, a regulatory lobbyist at the National Association of
Manufacturers, which has often opposed government regulations. "This
year, we have seen quite a bit of it."

Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMB Watch, a
Washington group that tracks federal regulatory actions, agreed. "I
have never before seen so many industries joining a push for
regulation," Mr. Melberth said. "What we need to watch closely is if
this will achieve a real increase in standards and public protections
or simply serve corporate interests."

<snip>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/washington/16regulate.html

-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.