Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Hearing on The Product Packaging Protection Act of 2001
Before the
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition
Wednesday, August 1, 2001

Over the past several years, consumers across the country have registered complaints about offensive material that is finding its way inside product packaging such as cereal boxes, pretzels and cake mixes.

These offensive materials range from white supremacist and anti-Semitic leaflets to pornographic and anti-abortion images that are being inserted inside food containers after they leave the manufacturer. Especially troubling is the fact that these materials have been found in consumer products favored by children, such as cereal. The sugary breakfast staple is almost exclusively marketed to kids. It seems especially sinister that children, who often root around for the toys inside the box, are the ones being targeted by hate groups and other extremists. Individuals who wish to exercise their First Amendment rights should find a more appropriate forum than boxes of Fruit Loops.

This kind of product tampering is not only disturbing to unsuspecting consumers and children; it poses serious safety and health risks to the safety of consumer products. Consumers have a right to believe that the products they buy have not been opened by unauthorized individuals. After the fatal cyanide poisonings in the early 1980s, the public's confidence in product safety was shaken. Some 20 years later, consumer trust has rebounded since that time. But this new form of tampering has the potential to once again tangibly erode public trust.

Currently, laws against product tampering deal only with altering or poisoning the food itself, not opening containers and inserting materials that do not affect the product itself. But the question remains, if products can be opened and tampered with in any way, how can consumers trust that the food they are buying for their families is safe? I am troubled by this legal loophole and feel that we must tighten current law to ensure that the public is protected.

I was pleased to join Sen. Kohl and others in introducing the Product Packaging Act of 2001, which will close this loophole. This bipartisan bill would add a new provision to the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, prohibiting a person from intentionally tampering with a consumer product – without the consent of the manufacturer, retailer, or authorized distributor – by inserting material in the product or its container prior to sale. A person convicted of violating this new provision would be subject to a fine or up to two years in prison.

I look forward to working with Sen. Kohl and others in moving forward and passing this important piece of legislation.

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