The United States is not only the world's largest economy
It is also the greatest consumer of foreign-made goods
about half of what we buy; our clothing
toys pharmaceuticals cars vegetables
you name it, comes from another country. Processing these goods keeps US Customs
and Border Protection very busy
at our nation's 326 ports of entry but occasionally
some foreign importers and manufacturers are tempted to cut corners.
These shortcuts by foreign manufacturers
can be extremely dangerous to the health and safety of the U.S. consumer.
This is inside CBP!
hello and welcome to inside CBP
I'm Michael Pope. The foreign importers and manufacturers
who attempt to cheat the system of importing their merchandise into the U.S.
sometimes send unsafe goods to America
that are not up to U.S. standards. These products may be produced under
unsanitary conditions, labeled with false or misleading information
or just simply constructed with dangerous and inferior materials
imported items that do not meet U.S. regulations for safety like
toys with small parts or lead paint that could be ingested
clothing that is highly flammable, an unsafe part
in a power strip or household lighting, or infected personal hygiene products
are examples of unsafe imported products here in the U.S.
consider the dangerous consequences if you use
any of these unsafe products. This is why import safety
is a top priority for the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP
shares responsibility for ensuring the safety of imported goods with many other
federal agencies
each agency shares a strong commitment to work together
it helps keep you and your family safe from dangerous imports
CBP operates a multi-agency
Commercial Targeting & Analysis Center in Washington, D.C.
Here is where a joint task force carefully examines information about
commercial shipments
coming into the country. Tens of thousands of shipments each day
are scrutinized by CBP and its federal partners
to identify foreign-made products bound for the US
which may present potential health and safety threats. One federal agency that
CBP works closely with
to protect the american consumer from unsafe products is the Consumer Product
Safety Commission
now scientists and technicians at the CPSC laboratories
test for product safety with many different methods including chemical,
mechanical, electrical, and fire combustion.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with
regulating more than fifteen thousand different types of consumer products
within the United States, um, and we do our best to protect families and
consumers from the dangerous products such as electrocution hazards,
children's hazards, mechanical hazards that can cause injuries to children
or families. CBP and CPSC than work collaboratively to develop strategies to
effectively target the shipments of greatest
risk. CTAC is a great facilitator in getting that information
out to the ports so that ports can actually prevent those shipments from
entering before they pose a hazard to consumers. Narrator: You can report
import health and safety violations and other trade violations by calling the
CBP trade hotline
at 1-800-BE-ALERT. That's 1-800
BE-ALERT. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated
For inside CBP I'm Michael Pope
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