Editor: November's recall of more than 2 million defective and potentially lethal cribs is a reminder that, far too often, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission is unable to effectively monitor products before they reach the market. As a result, the flood of dangerous products, foreign and domestic, continues.

We cannot rely on government to protect us, and we cannot trust corporations here and overseas to act responsibly. However, when victims of these defective products are injured or killed, trial lawyers fight to obtain compensation for them in court. That is why we need a strong civil justice system to hold the manufacturers of these dangerous products accountable for their actions.

A strong civil justice system not only provides compensation for victims, it compels manufacturers to ensure that their products are safe or are removed from the market, benefiting all consumers. Indeed, this may well have been a major reason for the baby crib recall.

Trial lawyers have a history of protecting consumers. In the 1970s, it was the defective gas tank on Ford Pintos and seat belts for automobiles. In the '80s, it was asbestos and rollover protection for farm and industrial tractors. In the '90s, it was safer tires, airbags for automobiles and much safer truck rims. It was the civil justice system and trial lawyers that exposed tobacco as the poison it is now so well known to be.

Our strong civil justice system enforces safety standards through accountability with no bureaucrats to pay; and with the onslaught of increasingly defective products coming in from China, it is more important than ever that the civil justice system be maintained and protected from those who want to dismantle it for their own private gain.

ATTORNEY LAURENCE M. KELLY
Montrose