Consumer Protection Shouldn’t be All or Nothing

via Politico By Shihan Qu Published MARCH 28, 2020 There is a controversy brewing in Congress, inflamed by recent media attention, over whether small powerful magnets sold as adult products should be banned for Americans of all ages because children have been injured by swallowing them. This controversy is a surrogate for a broader discussion about the role of the Consumer Product Safety...
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Shihan Qu Battles Federal Regulators

Via The Westword By Alan Prendergast Published JANUARY 20, 2018 Shihan Qu thought he knew a thing or two about small, round magnets and their capacity to attract — not only each other, but artists, scientists and hobbyists, drawn by the magnets’ quirky behavior and simple elegance. What he hadn’t counted on, though, was their ability to attract trouble. The first sign of trouble arrived on his...
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Saving Magnets A Massive Battle

Via The Huffington Post By Jeremy Kutner Published AUGUST 21, 2017 Shihan Qu stood before an industrial gas furnace in a cavernous metal treatment plant on the outskirts of Denver wearing a novelty tuxedo T-shirt and dark-framed hipsterish glasses. He was there to hear a eulogy for his magnets. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in solemn remembrance and fond celebration of the lives of...
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New Voluntary Standard for Retail Sales

DENVER, COLORADO, June 26, 2014. In the midst of a regulatory battle with the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), Zen Magnets has begun expanding to retail stores with physical locations, and has announced a new Voluntary Standard for retail sales of artistic and educational magnet spheres. The CPSC staff “preliminary determined” that all aggregate sets of high powered magnets...
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CPSC Continues to Gamble Reputation in Magnet Ban, Stakes Grow

The 2008 CPSC Leadership (Robert Adler and Inez Tenenbaum) have tossed the old ways of the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) out the window and set a blazing trail of new precedents, especially in their expensive campaign to ban magnet sets typically used for art and education. The ethos of consistency and fairness earned by the agency in the previous four decades is heavily wagered in a...
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