• The New York Times, Tuesday, October 30, 2007 12:11 PM

Nancy Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked Congress not to approve the bulk of pending legislation that would increase the agency's authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff. Her opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the deregulatory approach of the Bush administration.

The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. Nord--who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce--criticized the measure in two letters sent to the Democratic leaders of the committee.

Some of Nord's complaints are similar to ones that business groups and manufacturers have raised, including that the legislation would be unnecessarily burdensome. But in other areas--like whistle-blower protection--her complaints went beyond those of industry.

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