Agency unaware of serious accidents

Yasumasa Kanasugi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The Consumer Affairs Agency, which marks the first anniversary of its launch Wednesday, still has a long way to go in protecting consumer interests.

The agency's tasks include gathering information related to accidents involving consumers and promptly addressing such problems under the Consumer Safety Law.

However, the information it gathers is so inadequate that it often is unaware of consumer-related accidents caused by flawed goods, facilities and services.

Last month, a journal published by the Japan Pediatric Society reported two cases of infants who were rushed to a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture last year after toppling off floating tubes into bathtubs.

Although they did not die, a 7-month-old boy was hospitalized for a month and a 10-month-old girl for two days. The floating tubes allow infants to sit on a seat with their feet dangling in the water.

The article surprised a senior agency official. "This is the first time we've heard of this type of accident," he said.

He added: "As that hospital treated two patients involved in similar accidents in one year, it's possible that a large number of similar accidents have occurred nationwide."

The law, which was enacted when the agency was launched, obliges ministries, agencies and local governments to report accidents caused by consumer goods to the agency.

Independent administrative entities and private hospitals are not obliged to comply in this respect. Although the hospital that accepted the infants is state-run, it is an independent administrative entity.

Even if the children had been taken to a hospital run by a local government, it is quite possible the accidents might not have been reported.

The law stipulates that if a consumer is considered responsible for an accident, the product involved is blameless.

In the cases of the two children, the floating tubes were sold for use in a pool, not bathtubs.

However, they are popular among parents as they can place their children on the tubes to shampoo their hair and go about other tasks.

In 2007, however, the maker of the tubes stopped selling them after being warned by the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan of accidents involving them, some fatal.

The products are now being sold for use in pools, with labels warning that they should not be used in bathtubs and that parents should keep their eyes on their children while the products are in use.

However, an agency official said, "It seems that the popularity of using the products in the bathtub has not lessened."

Even after learning of the accidents, the agency is still undecided whether to regard them as accidents caused by consumer goods.

Similar problems have occurred with other products.

In September last year and March this year in Tokyo, accidents were caused by automobile power windows, with one child having a finger cut and another nearly suffocating when its neck was caught.

But the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry's Fire and Disaster Management Agency decided they did not constitute accidents caused by consumer goods because the products themselves were not faulty.

The Consumer Affairs Agency was notified of the accidents in April, only after they were reported in the media.

Fires caused by children playing with lighters have caused many deaths across the country.

However, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported such cases to the Consumer Affairs Agency only after they became social problems. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry is now considering countermeasures.

Hisa Anan, chief of the secretariat of the National Liaison Committee of Consumers' Organizations, said, "The definition of accidents caused by consumer goods is too narrow, so really important information about accidents is not reported.

"Even if it can't be proved the products are faulty or that consumers have used them wrongly, a system should be set up to convey the information [to the Consumer Affairs Agency] as quickly as possible when a number of people are involved in accidents of a similar nature."