Can the government recall a book?

[sparkchaser]

Can the government recall a book? - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine

On Oct. 1, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Oxmoor House, a division of Time Warner, was recalling 16 home-repair guides, all of them out of print since at least 2005 and some of them published as far back as the 1950s and 1960s. This was 10 months after the CPSC announced that Oxmoor House was recalling nine home-repair guides of more recent vintage (meaning some were published in the aughts, some in the 1990s, one in 1985, and one in 1975). The problem with all of these was that they contained "errors in the technical diagrams and wiring instructions that could lead consumers to incorrectly install or repair electrical wiring, posing an electrical shock or fire hazard to consumers."

...

Is the government really allowed, under the First Amendment, to force the recall of a book based on its content?

...

But one reason most companies that deal with the CPSC tend to agree to voluntary recalls is that the CPSC has the power to force mandatory recalls. Does the CPSC have the power to force a publisher to take a book off the market?

...

Interesting article.

 

[FictionLost]

I don't think they have any right to recall a book, but if there was something in there potentially dangerous I could see the need for a recall, but not by the government.
I am suddenly reminded of an incident in September where the Pentagon destroyed an army officer's memoir in mass (edition.cnn.com/2010/US/09/25/books.destroyed/).