The U.S. agency that works to promote the safety of consumer products has lost key leadership and staff over the last year, including two former commissioners who say consumers are paying the price for the cuts at the agency.

For Trista Hamsmith, the safety risks posed by some products are personal. In December 2020, her 18-month-old daughter Reese died after swallowing a button battery she accessed from a remote two months earlier.

The batteries are tiny, coin-sized and deadly when ingested. It burned through Reese's esophagus and after months of surgeries, doctors couldn't save her.

"I prayed and I prayed, but we didn't get her back. I got to hold her again, but she was gone," Hamsmith said, recalling the moment. "She was a baby and her life was taken too soon."

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