I’ve been hearing a lot within the indie design community lately about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that was recently passed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) this past August. This new law came about because of concerns over child safety. (Remember all that lead and other hazardous chemicals found in toys made in China?) This law aims to protect children under 12 from harmful substances that can be found in toys, furniture and clothing.
Unfortunately the law was written in a way that will make it very hard to continue to buy or sell handmade, as well as vintage or recycled, children’s items within the U.S. It will basically force every manufacturer (including crafters making things at home to sell) to do expensive testing on every single component of each children’s item they sell. And the law goes for not only newly made items, but anything made before the law goes into effect (thus impacting vintage & recycled goods).
Connie over at Sweet Figments wrote a really great post on the subject, and she explains a lot of the possible implications this law could have on small business owners and handmade items. The day this new law will go into effect, February 10th, 2009, has been dubbed “National Bankruptcy Day” by many manufacturers and retailers in the industry both in the U.S. and around the world.
I think it’s important to at the very least educate yourself about how you may be affected by this law. I think everyone agrees that we need to have laws and standards in place to protect the safety of both our children and ourselves. It just seems like the lawmakers were very short-sighted in this case and didn’t pause to think about artisan goods for children or the environmental impacts of having to trash all of the pre-existing children’s items that don’t comply with the new regulations.
I feel like there are a lot of problems in general with the way we test for health and safety in this country to begin with and this is just another example. (Another example would be how bottled water is often much less regulated than tap water, and can often contain significantly more toxins than tap water, which is very strictly regulated.)
Please check out this issue. If you want to take action, here are some resources found at Connie’s blog:
Sign the petition.
Vote for Change at Change.org.
The Handmade Toy Alliance has provided a sample letter and listed contact info for your Congress Person and Senators.
National Bankruptcy Day Site.
Write to man who sponsored this bill and send him an item of yours that will be illegal to sell after Feb 9th, 2009 in protest. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5949146
Bobby L. Rush (D)
Washington Office
2416 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-4372
fax: 202-226-0333
