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I’ve been sent this action alert, oh probably 25+ times…If the power of the blogosphere is what it hopes to be, the outcry should stop this in its tracks, but then again I’m hoping that people will use their common sense, something that seems to be lacking…
The Consumer Product Improvement Act (CPSIA) has been written to try and keep lead out of all products destined to go to children under 12 years of age. That sounds okay on the face of it, as a matter of fact WonderTime magazine says that CPSIA is a great new improvement. And who would want to argue? We all want lead out of our children’s toys.
The trouble is the law covers everything that is sold, made, or even MIGHT be used, by kids under 12. It all has to be tested. Paid for by the manufacturer. Do you love to buy handmade toys? Like to buy slings from a local company? Get your cloth diapers from other mothers off ebay? Support the craftspeople of Etsy? They are all scrambling right now, trying to figure out how this law will apply to them, how to possibly get around it, and ultimately how to pay for the testing. An expense that will be easily met by Mattel, but not so easily met by Grandma Ruth.
Here’s an estimate/example from a blog post I read:
Each item needs to be tested, each component of the item needs to be tested and each test runs at least a couple of hundred dollars. Let’s say each test costs $500 (an amount that has been quoted quite often). Let’s say that you make dresses for little girls. These are fairly simple dresses, you use printed cotton material, buttons, a zipper and some ribbon. Each component of the dress needs to be tested by an independent 3rd party lab. So, you’re looking at 4 tests for your simple little girl dress. That’s $2000 to test one dress. The dress that you had planned on selling for $40.
Now, let’s say that you make the same dress, using all the same items except that the material you use is a different color. You guessed it, 4 more tests. $2000 more.
Here’s what makes it even more unbelievable. All of the components you used, the material, the zipper, the ribbon and the buttons, all of these things have already been tested for lead by the manufacturer. But, under the CPSIA, you can’t use the manufacturer’s lead free certification, you have to do your own testing because you are the manufacturer of the end product, the dress. There was no lead in any of the items when you bought them from Joann’s but through some magical voodoo in your sewing machine, you have now turned inherently lead free items into lead killing machines.
I found this site very informative: National Bankruptcy Day!
This is from my friend Jennifer
The costs of mandatory lead testing on all children’s products will likely drive many artisans and small companies out of business. A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 – $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA. A work at home mom who makes cloth diapers to sell online must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
An organization called the Handmade Toy Alliance has put together some information and an action alert, to try and change the impending CPSIA law. The changes they want to make will allow artisans and small businesses to continue making their toys, clothing and other children’s products as they have been, either through exemptions or by offering free testing. Please send a letter to your Congress people letting them know you support this.
sample letter to send to Congress -
Dear [your congress person or senator],
Like many people, I was deeply concerned by the dangerous and poisonous toys that large Chinese toy manufacturers have been selling to our nations families. And, I was very pleased that Congress acted quickly to protect America’s children by enacting the CPSIA.
However, I am very concerned that the CPSIA’s mandates for third party testing and labeling will have a dramatic and negative effect on small toymakers and in the USA, Canada, and Europe, whose toy safety record has always been exemplary. It will also devastate small manufacturers of children’s clothes and other handmade goods for children.
Because of the fees charged by Third Party testing companies, many manufacturers, especially makers of beautiful wooden toys and unique children’s clothes from Maine to Oregon will be driven out of business. Their cottage workshops simply do not make enough money to afford the $4,000 price tag per toy that Third Party testers are charging.
I urge you to quickly request the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make some very reasonable exclusions in their interpretation of the law as they continue their rulemaking process. For example, manufacturers should be able to rely on testing done by their materials suppliers instead of paying for redundant unit-based testing. I would also like to see an exemption to third party testing requirements for micro-businesses similar to the exemptions granted by the FDA for small producers under the food labeling laws.
If you feel that testing should still be required, then the CPSC should be made to offer free testing services for small manufacturers.
These toy makers and crafters have earned and kept the public’s trust. They provide jobs for hundreds and quality playthings for thousands. Their unique businesses should be protected. Please visit www.handmadetoyalliance.org to learn more about this issue.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[your name]
Spend a moment today asking your legislators to use their common sense!
xox,
Heather
It is all over Twitter and the Etsy blogs. Here is the link to the people talking about CPSIA on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6006684&page=1
Seems to be up in the air…
and the latest update on Etsy here:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6007869
Yep. This delightful bit of legislation is threatening to put an entire side of my business out of business. NOT COOL! I have fired off several letters to my congressman and senator, and have gotten NOTHING back. I’m ticked! Hopefully the folks in Washington will get a clue before they knock out the cottage industry.
And that’s not even saying what the law would do for consignment and second-hand shops, where many of us buy clothes for our kids! My favorite local consignment shop owner has already told me that she would simply stop carrying children’s clothing, and I’m sure she isn’t alone. I’m all for keeping kids safe, but I don’t think this is exactly the way to do it.
I’ve heard differently. From what I have heard, this law is meant to target only those mass-producing products. Those that only have one or two of any given thing seem to be exempt:
“There are exceptions to the testing rule for crafters making only one unique copy of each item, said Julie Vallese, spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Small toymakers have inundated the commission with questions and complaints about the new standards, she said. Many are confused about whether the new rules apply to their operations.
“It’s sticky and it’s tricky, but if we can’t see that the products are truly one-of-a-kind, they have to be tested,” she said. “This is not a time where a manufacturer should be rolling the dice on compliance with the law.”
From the Richmond Times Dispatch
and
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to exempt electronic goods and products with lead embedded inside from new rules banning the metal in toys.
The two-member commission, reacting to complaints from manufacturers, also agreed to exempt natural products such as gems and cotton from mandatory testing for lead. The proposal, given initial approval today, will be open for public comment for a month and may be altered.
The CPSC exempted wool, cotton, silk, gemstones and pearls in its proposal today.
and
The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.
Linkies:
http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0Xr2Iw1Vi_8&refer=us
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/E-TOYS26_20081225-212814/162286/
So yeah, resalers and small-time crafters are exempt. Only mass-producers will truly be effected.
Thank you Heather for covering this one! The Maine WAHM Network is also heavily affected by this, and the noise we’re making is a small cry in a sea of many. My shop, full of handmade items from Maine WAHMS, is closing its doors, since 75% of my inventory will be considered toxic materials in a couple of weeks:( let’s keep pushing for change!!
Here’s a nice article in Forbes about the scope of the problem:
http://tinyurl.com/74qk2d
A couple of things – the CPSC has already noted that changes need to be made in the statute because of the unintended effect on non-profits and hand made sellers for a start. Don’t close your doors yet, Heidi! http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lead7-2009jan07,0,6917858.story
Also the Change.org Idea for Change about stopping CPSIA haa been voted into the top 10, which is also good.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia
There has been a lot of creativity in the protests being organized by Etsy sellers. The CPSC will be busy enforcing compliance with the big manufacturers, and I’m willing to bet my crafting business that the almost inevitable test case in the courts will not be a hand crafter, but a mid size local toy maker with limited edition items – some company on the borderline between the exclusions and exceptions that the public outcry will surely mandate, and the international companies with the $$$ to afford the testing. I’m guessing someone like Tonner, Jason Wu, Madame Alexander, Karito Kids.
I wrote a letter including a photo of my dangerous kids’ doll that would jump from costing $6 to $506, assuming I found a lab with lower costs. Get yours now at my Etsy store before the price hike
http://www.iggyjingles.etsy.com
I read elsewhere that second-hand items will be exempt from the legislation, but there are still some ambiguities and uncertainties there.
But, in better news, there is some movement happening at the government level:
http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/house-committee-white-house-signal-cpsia-delay-and-fine-tuning/
In addition, as the economy is in a downturn, and thousands of people are losing their jobs everyday-this is the WORST time to be subjecting small and cottage industries to such ridiculous testing laws. When hundreds of thousands of small businesses are closing their doors because of this stupid law, their suppliers and the growers or manufacturers of their ingredients/components will be hard hit as well. In the end, all this well-meaning law does, is further weaken our OWN internal financial/job structure. It does NOT stop China and other countries from manufacturing and earning money off of our hard working people, and don’t kid yourselves-this will not stop the corporations. It’s a joke. And a bad one at that!
And as an alternative view…and yes, I realize how convoluted this may sound…consider this: Could it possibly be deliberate? Could the timing of this and all the financial and economic crisis ensuing NOT be coincidental? If they put a large number of cottage and small businesses out of business, and they can no longer support or supplement their families with an income they’ve created themselves, who will all of these families have left to depend on for food and survival? The government. I know it sounds crazy, but there are many people who feel Martial Law is coming in the wake of this turbulent time…And they can’t very well encourage you to “obey” with promises of food and protection, if well…you can make things and sell it and be just fine! Just something to consider…
i thought i saw something on the news that the law would not effect thrift and consignment shops. i dont know about WAH industries.
i recently saw a video… i will post the link later, that the thrift stores can sell used items as long as they feel that they are safe, but they need to prove that with some sort of tests… not the cheep ones, but ones that are costly.
the whole damn thing just chaps my ass. i am thinking this only helps the big companies who can afford to pay this and only increase their products a little bit (ie a $10.00 toy is now $12.00)this also closes down the small mom and pop places and also causes a SAHM who makes let’s say diapers, now she can not do that to suppliment her families income so she now has to go to work and then pay daycare, and extra for the stuff they need to live as it is all more expensive now and she can no longer get it at the thrift store. it is bull crap.
GRRRRR
heather in maine
Off to find the link
http://www.wbaltv.com/video/18479590/index.html
here is the link
Thank you for spreading the word to your readers. I have to tell you that I find it very ironic that we have to go back and address the same people that voted YES!
I’ve also heard that this might affect libraries as well… They won’t be able to sell their used books, and if they can’t sell them, then loaning out these *toxic* books is against the law as well. So I read that the children’s library sections will have to replace their entire selection of books/items for children. Costly, wasteful, STUPID!
i have heard some WAHMs will be switching to contract work (which is what i will be doing, as well). customer supplies materials, vendor knits or sews item to customer’s specs. one way to get around it, for the time being anyways.
unfortunately that only works for things like knitting and sewing (maybe a few select other services). i think we need to take a different tactic here. what if businesses just changed their marketing? handmade toys could be marketed as ‘knick knacks’ or ‘collectibles’, leaving parents to choose what they want to do with the item. (maybe i’m just being too optimistic? or deliriously desperate to find a way around this?)
i just hate to see so many wonderful at-home and small businesses close their doors because of some idiot lawmakers’ knee-jerk reaction to imported junk. and especially after reading Marcie’s post (thanks, that brought a whole new level to my paranoia!), i’m honestly scared to let the big guys win!
what if everyone just kept selling their stuff as usual? the government couldn’t possibly keep up with every. single. vendor.
Thanks for publicizing this. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this myself–spreading the news, writing my congressmen, even made a page with all the links and stuff I’ve found most helpful (http://www.squidoo.com/CPSIAinfolinks).
So, this is a side comment and not a criticism at all. The comic above this post is funny…except it’s not really accurate. Sure, we’ve been hearing about recalls of dangerous toys at the dollar store–usually cheep and plastic, often blinkie–for a long, long time now. But that’s not where the whole lead scare started. If you remember, it was the Thomas the Tank Engine line of wooden trains that was the first major lead recall that started the scare: wooden, sturdy, expensive, with a lifetime guarantee. While not hand-made by someone’s grandmother, most parents who bought them thought they were being responsible buying them, and few realized that they were produced in China. Next was Fisher Price–a company known for having sturdy and safe toys–one that’s been around since I was a kid playing with their toys. A company most parents thought of as reputable.
That’s why while I really want them to change the law (allow componant testing and make exceptions on batch labeling for hand made crafts, etc.), I really do want a law to regulate toys–just a better more thought out one.