Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Organizations Support the CPSC’s Proposed Guidance for Estimating Value per Statistical Life (VSL)

Several consumer organizations offer support for the CPSC’s draft guidance for estimating value per statistical life (VSL) because of the agency’s emphasis on promulgating strong safety standards to protect people from serious injury or death. They view this proposed guidance as especially vital because it helps the CPSC fulfill its mandate to protect children. Society properly places a high value on children’s lives and prioritizes efforts to protect children from the risk of death. As such, they urge the CPSC to establish final guidance that reflects the higher value society places on children’s lives and adopt a child-specific VSL that is at least twice the value as the VSL for adults.