In Turnaround, Industries Seek U.S. Regulations

September 17, 2007

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By ERIC LIPTON and GARDINER HARRIS

Published: September 16, 2007

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.

Push for Regulations from Unlikely Sources 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 rio 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. "

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