Why do government regulations lead to higher prices for consumers?

Government regulations mandate production or testing requirements to ensure the quality and safety of products. This typically means specialized equipment is needed to produce the product, more employees are needed to perform quality control tests, and possibly higher quality raw materials must be used. The cost of producing the product increases with the higher quality materials, new equipment acquisition, and additional paid employee time. These added production costs are then passed on to the consumer in the final price of the product.