Robert S. Adler

Adler was a Professor of Legal Studies and the Luther H. Hodges, Jr. Scholar in Law & Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.{{cite web |url = https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Fills-New-CPSC-Posts |title=President Obama Fills New CPSC Posts - The White House |author=White House Office of the Press Secretary |author-link=White House Office of the Press Secretary |date=5 May 2009 |via = National Archives |work = whitehouse.gov |access-date=15 July 2013}} He has served as the Associate Dean of the MBA Program and as Associate Dean for the School's Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Program. A recipient of teaching awards both within the business school and university-wide, Adler's research and teaching focus on consumer protection, product liability, ethics, regulation, and negotiation. Before joining the UNC faculty, Adler served as counsel on the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce where he advised on CPSC legislative and oversight issues under the leadership of Henry Waxman. Prior to that, he spent eleven years (from 1973 to 1984) as an attorney-advisor to two commissioners at the CPSC in Washington, D.C. One of the commissioners he worked for was R. David Pittle, an original appointee at the CPSC. Before joining the CPSC's staff, Adler served as a Deputy Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Justice Department, where he headed the southwest regional office of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection. Adler has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. He also served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team and co-authored the agency review report on the CPSC. Adler graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan.

During his tenure at the CPSC, Adler stated "injuries and death from consumer products begin to accelerate dramatically once consumers hit age 75."{{cite web|last=Adler|first=Robert|title=Statement at Hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade of the House Energy & Commerce Committee on Oversight of the Consumer Product Safety Commission|url=https://www.cpsc.gov//PageFiles/129003/adler08022012.pdf|access-date=23 April 2014|date=August 2, 2012}} Adler also criticized provisions in the CPSC's organic statute that govern information-sharing by the CPSC.

Citing several operational issues, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers stated at a July 2024 hearing that “the Commission fell into disrepair" under Adler's leadership.{{cite web |title=Chair Rodgers Opening Remarks at CPSC Budget Hearing |url=https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chair-rodgers-opening-remarks-at-cpsc-budget-hearing |website=House Committee on Energy and Commerce |publisher=U.S. House of Representatives |date=July 10, 2024 |access-date=July 7, 2025}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, then-acting chairman Adler faced criticism for secretly suspending key operations of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for several months. According to investigations by USA Today in 2020 and 2021, the agency halted routine screening of imported consumer products at U.S. ports, including high-risk items such as children's toys and other goods that could contain hazardous materials like lead or phthalates.{{cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Letitia |last2=Nadolny |first2=Tricia |title=Consumer product safety risk rose after COVID port screening lapse |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/07/14/consumer-product-safety-risk-after-covid-port-screening-lapse/7938830002/ |work=USA Today |date=July 14, 2021 |access-date=July 4, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Letitia |last2=Murphy |first2=Brett |title=Kids' toys lacked federal safety screenings ahead of holiday shopping |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/12/11/kids-toys-lacked-federal-safety-screenings-ahead-holiday-shopping/3808926001/ |work=USA Today |date=December 11, 2020 |access-date=July 4, 2025}} The halt in inspections coincided with the 2020 holiday shopping season and raised concerns that potentially unsafe products were entering the U.S. market without oversight.

The lack of screening drew bipartisan condemnation from members of Congress, who expressed concern over risks to consumer safety, particularly for children. Senator Richard Blumenthal stated, “The total lack of inspections is absolutely inexcusable, especially because of the concealment.” In defense of the agency’s actions, Adler stated that "Lead in toys is not the biggest lead hazard to kids."

• Adler, Robert S.; Popper, Andrew F. (February 2019). [https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1166&context=wmblr "The Misuse of Product Misuse: Victim Blaming at Its Worst."] William & Mary Business Law Review. 10 (2): 337.
• {{cite web |url= https://www.politico.com/story/2011/08/moving-forward-on-product-safety-061364 |title=Opinion: Moving forward on product safety - Robert S. Adler |first=Robert S. |last=Adler |work=Politico |date=14 August 2011 |access-date=16 July 2013}}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/detail/consumer-product-safety-commission-cpsc-podcast |title=Consumer Product Safety Commission podcast |first1=Robert S. |last1=Adler |first2=Nancy |last2=Nord |first3=Harold D. "Hal" |last3=Stratton |work=Federalist Society |date=4 June 2010 |access-date=16 July 2013}}
• {{cite journal|last=Adler|first=Robert S.|title=From "model agency" to basket case - can the Consumer Product Safety Commission be Redeemed?|journal=Administrative Law Review|date=Winter 1989|volume=41|issue=1|pages=61|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/admin41&div=10}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.cpsc.gov/About-CPSC/Chairman/Robert-Adler Profile as chairman at Consumer Product Safety Commission]
• [http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/faculty/directory/strategy-and-entrepreneurship/robert-adler profile at University of North Carolina]

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{{s-bef|before=Stuart Statler}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commissioner of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission|years=2009–2021}}

{{s-aft|after=Richard Trumka Jr.}}

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Category:Living people

Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:Consumer rights activists

Category:American lawyers

Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty

Category:U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission personnel

Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Washington, D.C., Democrats