Consumer protection is a general concept that involves protecting people from buying things and services that are unsafe or fraudulent. The best know consumer protection organization in the United States is the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency created by Congress in 1972. Its charter is to "protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products."

The CPSC has jurisdiction over about 15,000 types of products—everything from appliances to toys. It helps manufacturers develop voluntary standards to prevent accident and injury, enforces government determined mandatory standards, issues recalls of unsafe products, does research into potential product hazards, and educates consumers to choose safer products and report accidents and injuries related to consumer products.

In addition to the CPSC, in the United States several other agencies are responsible for protecting the public. The U.S...