The CPSIA and You
January 26, 2009
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[Note: The screaming you hear in my intro comments are my daughters playing together in their room!]
This week on the show I spoke with Jennifer Vetere, co-owner of a small, local handmade business for babies, toddlers and their moms at Made By Moms.
No doubt you’ve come across blog posts or news stories about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
Just What Is the CPSIA?
According to Jennifer,
The act, in a nutshell, states that all objects intended for a child 12 or under to use must be “final product, component tested” for lead.
This means that every component in the final product must be tested to meet requirements — the lowest cost I’ve found (at an actual lab) has been $75 per component.
This translates into costs ranging from $375 for a bib to over $600 for one of our Take-Me-Too blankets — quilts wouldn’t even be feasible, as there are usually quite a few fabrics that go into them.
This cost wouldn’t be a burden for a company who manufactures 1,000 of an item, but I make (perhaps) ten blankets or bibs in a line before moving on to my next one.
The worst part is that it covers ORGANIC fabrics — so even my certified-by-the-GOTS Harmony Art blankets would have to be tested.
In addition to hand crafted items, used items for kids will be affected by the CPSIA. Jennifer states:
This act doesn’t just affect handmade, however, it affects our second-hand stores and libraries as well.
Come February 10th, anything that has not been tested becomes a “hazardous material” and banned from sale, trade, or gift.
Libraries with children’s books are face with the option of either a) defying the law and accepting they might be liable for penalties, b) destroying their books or c) testing every children’s book in stock.
According to http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322:
General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that would require public, school, academic and museum libraries to either remove all their books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities, beginning on February 10.
“I sincerely doubt that Congress intended to require libraries to be subject to this law, but if Congress does not act soon, libraries across the country will be forced to remove books from the shelves, rather than keep them available to serve the educational needs of our nation’s children.”
At this time of enormous economic upheaval, where more families than ever are using our
library system, this is an unconscionable decision to force them to make.In addition, second hand retailers face the same situation. Test, be liable or stop dealing in second-hand children’s articles like clothing, toys and cribs. Again, at a time when families are relying on the cost savings of places like the Salvation Army and Goodwill, this is unfathomable.
Jennifer continues:
I hope to raise awareness as to how much this will devastate many stores, artisans and small businesses throughout the United States. Many people devoted to green living are reliant on small-scale manufacturers to supply organic, quality, safe cloth diapers, bibs, blankets and clothing — these same people will be at a loss when the government’s good intentions backfire. Come the 10th, I won’t be able to sell, trade, donate or give away my stock — it will have to go right in the garbage, something that stabs me right in the heart.
February 10th has been dubbed “Bankruptcy Day” because of the number of children’s product retailers and manufacturers who will be forced to close their doors.
photo credit: shortfatkid
photo credit: imcountingufoz
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6 Responses to “The CPSIA and You”
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I keep reading and reading about this…makes me sick to my stomach, literally! I don’t have a business this will affected but I do have small children and do frequent thrift stores, the library and rummage sales. How am I going to afford to buy clothes with this recession? There is a lot more to my story but long story short this recession has hit us hard, very hard!
My heart goes out to these small business owners that will be affected, as if the recession wasn’t enough of a hit on there sales I am sure! As if the unemployment rate wasn’t high enough already! Let’s put more people out of work, grrrrrr!
Seems like they want to force us into a depression! Just makes me feel ill…..
I’m not happy about this at all. My one disagreement with Jennifer is that I don’t believe for a moment that the government’s intentions were good. Had the intentions been good, the government would have dealt with the Chinese-made toys lead contamination problem by enforcing current standards or imposing an embargo until it was safe to import again.
But no, they had to use that as an excuse to persecute work at home moms and second hand businesses. I honestly believe the actual impact of CPSIA is exactly what was intended.
Chrissy is absolutely right: they do want to force us into a depression. Why? Because they want us crawling on our knees begging them for some relief. Then they can control us, which is what they really want.
I don’t expect letters to Congress are going to help much. Letters to Obama certainly won’t. The passage of the bailout bill proved to us they’re not listening. We have to figure out some way of resisting that is truly effective.
Any ideas?
I was reading over the FAQ pertaining to CPSIA on the CPSC’s web page. It strikes me that one way people will try to get around it may be to say the products really aren’t intended for children when of course people know better. I don’t know how that will fly with WAHM outfits but there may be some clever loopholes. In some states, you can buy raw milk for your pet but not for a person, and I bet there’s a lot of wink wink nod nod there.
I’m guessing that we’re suddenly going to see a lot of toys with labels saying: “Not intended for children under 13,” similar to the choking hazard label, where you can hardly buy anything that’s labeled for under 3 and at times I’ve been hard pressed to find anything in the package that an elephant could choke on. That actually may be a nice unintended consequence in that maybe it will actually decrease toy marketing to children under 13. Not holding my breath or anything, but I could see that happening. Except that the companies who can afford to take out TV adds can afford the lab testing just fine. OK, never mind.
I don’t think we’re going to be able to stop this, though it’s definitely worth a try. I think cottage industry businesses should start trying to find the loopholes. I think a lot of adults will suddenly find that they really like playing with “formerly” children’s toys. No, this set of blocks isn’t for my 6-year-old. It’s for me to review my geometry–I’d forgotten what a rectangular prism was. I can’t help it if my 6-year-old keeps getting it off the shelf. Hey, these easy reader books at the library aren’t children’s books. They’re for adults who still struggle with reading. What? My eight year old can read them? I’ll be darned… wink wink nod nod… Smart libraries will just start shelving “children’s books” with the adult stuff and patrons will very quickly learn how to locate them, or just request them using online resources.
Maybe a lot of baby slings are going to be marketed to cat and guinea pig owners. Hey, it clearly says this is for your cat. I can’t help it if someone bought it for their baby without telling me. Cloth diapers? Hasn’t anyone seen a puppy dog in diapers right before he gets house trained? Baby clothes? They’re to dress that new line of porcelain dolls we adults can’t get enough of on our shelves. What? someone actually put it on a baby?
I think people who carry children’s products will be very quickly thinking up all kinds of “alternative” uses. The rest of us will buy them for what we need and use them as we wish anyway. Marketing will take on a whole new meaning.
That’s my hope, anyway.
Fernanda you are KILLING me with your ideas! LOL!
Finally, I am able to laugh at this whole thing! Fernanda, you hit it right on the nose!
If you want a chuckle thru this whole hair-pulling CPSIA mess, go to http://www.easyfunschool.com/the_CPSIA_meets_Dr_Seuss.html and read “Dr. Seuss Meets the CPSIA”!