Bill to Prevent Burn Injuries Passes in Congress
Bill to Prevent Burn Injuries Passes in Congress
Survivors for Good Champions Efforts Behind Legislation to mitigate burn explosion injuries
PR Newswire
BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 19, 2021
BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Survivors for Good (SFG) co-founder, Margrett Lewis, is in Washington, D.C. this week to raise awareness of preventable burn injuries from household consumer products. SFG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on empowering growth, solutions and resiliency after traumas and burns. SFG's advocacy project called Not Your Turn To Burn announced the passage of Bill H.R. 806, the Portable Fuel Container Safety Act (PFCSA), which has the potential to prevent thousands of burn injuries and hundreds of deaths each year in America.
The passage of H.R. 806, sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), is a crucial step forward for consumer safety. The National Fire Protection Agency's data shows that every year 4,000 people are burned and 450 die because flammable liquid containers can explode while responsibly tipping or pouring flammable liquids.
"I'm here this week to thank members of Congress, including ones who are veterans and have seen burn injuries up close, for taking action," said Lewis, an unpaid advocate. "H.R. 806 requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to adhere to stricter safety protocols—allowing everyday heating, cooking, lighting and science demonstrations to be done without risk of burn explosion injuries. We thank Rep. Thompson and the legislators who took this necessary action to save lives."
Lewis championed efforts to pass The Portable Fuel Container Safety Act, and helped ensure that the appropriations omnibus approved by Congress included $10 million in continued funding for the Military Burn Research Program (MBRP) for Fiscal Year 2021.
"The FA required by the Bill cost only pennies, saves on injuries, have no effect on use and have been shown to work 100% of the time in preventing fires and explosions," said Dr. Glen Stevick, Principle of Berkeley Engineering and Research, Inc., where FAs were researched and tested. He is also a cofounder of SFG.
"We have never had a failure in any of the testing we did with a flame mitigation device in place," said Adam St. John, Special Agent at Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), concurring with Dr. Stevick. A fellow Burn Mom from one of these tragedies and ATF Analyst, Tonia Clarke has also lent her time and talents to this effort.
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SOURCE Survivors for Good
