Delays over furniture fires deadly

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2006 | by Peter Eisler

For decades, lack of consensus has blocked federal safety rules for upholstereditems WASHINGTON -- Thousands of people died in furniture fires over the past decade as federal regulators failed to set fire-resistance requirements for couches, chairs and other upholstered items. Today, the nation's fire marshals and victims of furniture fires are launching an awareness campaign meant to pressure the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to set national fire safety standards for upholstered furniture.

The federal government first reported in 1972 that standards were needed, but efforts by the CPSC to adopt enforceable rules have been derailed repeatedly by disagreements among fire safety groups, the furniture industry and commission staff. "Consumers don't deserve this,"...