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Goodbye to Bob
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"There was no kind of plot to keep Bob from talking to the press," Vallese said. "Because of the workload, the sheer volume of stuff being down at the lab, we weren't able to fulfill reporter requests."
Hundemer, who is not used to holding his tongue when it comes to safety matters, said it felt like being under quarantine.
Yesterday, he chose to meet a reporter at a baby superstore near his home in Springfield, where he spoke volubly as he led a tour, poking at bumpers on cribs, scrutinizing baby bath seats and yanking on Cookie Monster to demonstrate how toy animal eyes have been redesigned to make them safe.
"I'm not saying manufacturers are nefarious," he said. "They understand the sales value of a toy; they don't understand risk."
Hundemer came to the CPSC after being let go by a chain saw manufacturing company for complaining to his bosses about a safety defect, he said. Once at the agency, he helped develop safety standards for chain saws that helped reduce deaths from accidental decapitations. He moved on to working on children's products.
Years later, while shopping for his then-newborn son, he pointed out an unsafe crib to a salesman, prompting his mother-in-law to walk out of the store in embarrassment. He later reported the product to the agency.
"I can't have knowledge something is unsafe and not say anything," he said.
What he liked most about working in government was that he could speak his mind.
"When I saw something I didn't like, I could say something," he said. "I could do that without fear of getting my head chopped off."
He also liked being in the business of helping to save lives. He's worked on voluntary standards and regulations that have helped prevent children from getting killed or hurt using baby walkers, cribs and trampolines. He spent his last few weeks at the CPSC investigating the death of an infant in a crib. Almost all the deaths he has investigated over the years stay with him. He can recall in vivid detail autopsy photos he saw 20 years ago.
Preventing deaths and injuries is what kept him and his colleagues going through years of budget cuts.
"We didn't say, 'We don't have any money. We don't give a damn.' We said, 'We don't have any money, how do we do it anyway?' " he said.
