Dangerous lithium-ion batteries that have caused scores of fires in New York City — taking 18 lives in the process over the past two years — will no longer be allowed to be sold in the U.S. under a new federal measure poised to be voted on, according to the New York Daily News. Following a round of budget negotiations, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) managed to insert the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act into a massive budget bill expected to be approved by Congress in the coming days. The measure will allow the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to create national safety standards for lithium-ion batteries, enforce the standards, and issue recalls for batteries that don’t pass muster, federal officials said. Read more here on the New York Daily News.
