Please Save Handmade Toys & Obvioulsy Safe Toys

How do you explain something that makes no sense? A new law that will go into effect in February under the guise of protecting children, will in fact condemn retailers and home-based cottage businesses as guilty of child poisoning without any trial or jury.  Seem over-the-top?  Yes, I think so.

In an economy that is the worst it’s been since the depression, and layoffs from large to small companies happening daily, the US Government expects businesses from Toys R Us to grandmas handmade-only store, to destroy all existing toys, clothing, books, etc. because they MIGHT POSSIBLY contain lead.  To prevent having to lose inventory, retailers would have to have extensive lead testing done (from hundreds to thousands of dollars per item) done and then they are required to track those items.  How many mom and pop retailers can afford this?  All under the POSSIBILITY that they may have lead.

I’m so emotionally entwined with this issue I just don’t think I can explain it well, so I’m providing links to people who can.  Below that are action links – how to get involved.  Even if you’re not a retailer or manufacturer, you will be affected.  You will not, under the current law, be able to sell your children’s used clothes or books unless you’re willing to accept the liability that if that item is later tested an turns out to have lead, YOU would be responsible and fined!  Insane.

The current laws are enough to protect our children or fine, move forward from here and test every piece of fabric, trim, lace, etc., but to ask us to destroy in my case tens of thousands of dollars I can’t afford to lose is insane.

Great Reading:

Business is Personal – Mark

• #CPSIA – Got a little Howard Beale in you?

• CPSC issues “guidance” for thrift and resale shops re: CPSIA

• Your son’s Pinewood Derby car: a “banned hazardous substance”

• What you should be doing about the CPSIA

• CPSIA and small business – Still ignored by the Senate

• Sweatshirts and t-shirts: Wondering who the CPSIA will put out of business.

• Heard in the slammer: “I used to make handmade toys”

• What you should be doing about the CPSIA legislation.
  

Rally Against the CPSIA Legislation

Contact Info:  JESS@BABYHAWK.COM

In February 2009, many small businesses that manufacture apparel and other textile products for children under the age of 12 will be forced to shut down or endure pricey testing just to continue to stay in business. They legislation requires certificates to show that there is less than 600 ppm of lead in the fabric, many if not all fabrics have no lead in them and if there is any it is well below the eventual maximum of 100 ppm.

This affects people who sell at craft fairs, in person, via the web, Etsy, Ebay, etc.

Some experts are calling this National Bankruptcy Day. We need to do everything we can to stop the government from crushing every small business in the United States.

FROM THE HANDMADE TOY ALLIANCE

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public’s trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their molds to include batch labels.

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will likely drive them out of business. And the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy makers won’t be the only ones impacted by the CPSIA, the thousands of US businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children –in essence– the entire children’s industry will be as well.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public’s trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children’s products will no longer be legal in the US.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let’s amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

What can you do?

Sign the petition.

• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

Call your elected officials:

• What you should be doing about the CPSIA

Write your senators, congress people, everyone…share this…get the word out.

Here is a link to the list of Committee Members: http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=81

If any one of these Representatives are YOUR representative, PLEASE call & email them to voice your concerns about the provisions in the law as they affect you and the children’s products industry in general. Please do this today and Monday. Even if you are not in their district, but in their State, be sure to contact them. If your state isn’t represented, contact whomever you can, beginning with Congressman Rush. Please pass this on!
Thank you for helping.  Questions?  Please leave a comment or email.  I’m not an expert, but I can find one to answer your questions.

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