This is my research I have done on the new law which, if I read it correctly, has already been voted in. It's called the Consumer Product Saftey Improvement Act or CPSIA. (PL 110-787).
It states basically that there are new, much higher, standards for the amount of Lead Content in Children's products that can be given, sold, or distributed to kids under age 12.
This sounds great at first, until you consider the implications:
No consignments shops will be allowed to sell used kids clothes, toys, books, etc, unless they have passed 3rd Party Laboratory Testing.
In most cases, the consignment shops, especially ones who sell children's things, like Once Upon A Time, Goodwill, etc, will go out of business in about a month from now. (Feb 10)
EVERYONE who sells any children's items is at risk.
YOU cannot have a Yard Sale after Feb 10 and include anything for kids.
PLEASE SEND THIS ON AND REALLY READ IT!
Feel free to post on your blog or elsewhere!
Click Here to Sign the Petition and skip the why you should part!
Mary
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2009/01/consumer-produc.html LA Times Article On the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h4040/show About the Law
http://www.wlky.com/news/18435140/detail.html This was the article on wlky's website.
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia (This is from the Obama Camp...They're against it too) Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills.
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML Below are specific items from this Official Consumer Product Safety Commission site:
Third Party Testing for Certain Children's Products; Notice of Requirements for Accreditation of Third Party Conformity Assessment Bodies to Assess Conformity With Part 1501 of Title 16 CFR (Small Parts) – COMMENT REQUEST, November 17, 2008 [Text] [PDF]
Children's Products Containing Lead; Lead Paint Rule - Request for Comments and Information [PDF]
General Counsel Advisory Opinion: Request for Reconsideration of Application of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act's (CPSIA) Limit on Lead Permissible in Children's Products in Regard to Unsold Inventory as of February 2009 [PDF]
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/advisory/317.pdf Read this one! (this is from the PDF in the line above this)
This states explicitly that nothing currently on your store shelves that does not meet the new requirements may be sold as it is "banned hazardous substance". "a banned hazardous substance means any toy or article intended for children, which is a hazardous substance, or which bears or contains a hazardous substance in such manner as to be susceptible of access by a child to whom such toy or other article is entrusted."
Required Actions Pursuant to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 - Timeline [PDF] This one says that there are further bans to come!!!!
Click Here to Sign the Petition and please contact your Senators!
I sent the following using a website which automatically generated the letter and sent it to the people it needed to go to. Thought you might find it interesting. I found the website on the postings people had made on the facebook group. But I think you can find it by searching for American Apparel and Footwear Association. - mj
---------- Forwarded message ----------From: American Apparel and Footwear Association Date: Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 1:46 AM Subject: URGENT: New Product Safety Laws Need Clarifications Now To: American Apparel and Footwear Association
Thank you for using American Apparel and Footwear Association Mail System.
Message sent to the following recipients:
Representative Yarmuth
Senator Bunning
Senator McConnell
Message text follows:
My Address Here
January 8, 2009
[recipient address was inserted here]
[recipient name was inserted here],
I am writing to ask your immediate help to deal with an urgent problem relating to the recently enacted Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act(CPSIA) (PL 110-787).
The CPSIA legislation was an important contribution in efforts to strengthen product safety laws to make sure only safe and compliant products are sold to our nation's children. While well-intentioned, this legislation contains several provisions that impose new and burdensome requirements that increase costs at a time of economic upheaval but do not offer any improvement in the safety of children's products, including toys, clothing, and footwear. If left unchanged, such requirements, especially considering this dire economic environment, will have a disastrous impact on many companies.
The above was required un-editable text...
This is from me:
I have 2 little ones ages 2 and 4 (both are 2 months shy of that age) and my family buys clothes and toys at a consignment shop here in town, Once Upon A Time. They were on the news saying they'd have to close if you do this. It is even being rumored here that this may include Yard Sales and the Goodwill. What about mission houses?
I want my kids to be safe. But our economy locally, and I assume Nationally, cannot afford this!
Not the businesses, and not the families.
Comparatively speaking, my family makes a decent living, but we are still struggling to get by.
Our childcare costs $302 a week effective this Monday.
Explain to me how we are supposed to buy all new clothes when they can only wear it about 3-6 months, and then we can't sell it?
Please Help!
Required Text Continued....
As you know, the August 14, 2008 legislation included a new ban on lead in children's products (no more than 600 parts per million (ppm) by weight of any part of the product). According to the CPSIA, the new lead requirements take effect beginning February 10, 2009. However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has determined that this new requirement will apply to goods in inventory, as well as goods made on or after that effective date. This ruling effectively makes this new lead requirement retroactive. This means that product that produced several months ago, and which is safe and legally compliant today, will not be able to be sold on February 10.
This seems unfair, as it means we are being held responsible for a standard that didn't even exist when those goods were made. Moreover, it will be extremely difficult - and in some cases impossible - to retroactively certify that individual goods already in the warehouses and on the store shelves meet the new lead standard.
In short, the ruling puts at risk millions of dollars of inventory.
Moreover, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has so far failed to provide significant guidance or issue regulations on how the new lead rules should apply to children's products, even those that are inherently lead free. While the CPSC recently released four proposed rulemakings addressing testing exemptions for products and materials that are lead free, these rulemakings do not go nearly far enough. As February 10 quickly approaches, guidance has thus far been provided in a piecemeal approach while the CPSC wades through a backlog of information requests and juggles multiple new rule makings with limited resources. Because of the incomplete guidance, companies are being forced to undertake duplicative testing of components or to test elements of children's products that are either inaccessible or that are inherently lead free. While testing forms an important validation, these conflicting and burdensome requirements - especially for products and components that are inherently lead free - do not advance children's safety. In fact, the current system, if left unfixed, undermines our public safety system by shifting focus away from risky products.
I respectfully request your help ensuring that the CPSC institute rulemaking to clearly define the scope and applicability of the new lead regulations and testing requirements for apparel and footwear products. Ialso urge that CPSC announce and implement an orderly enforcement schedule that focuses initial phases on education of these new requirements.
Finally, I believe the decision by the CPSC to apply the lead ban retroactively needs to be reconsidered as soon as possible since the practical impact of this decision, in today's economic environment, will have an adverse effect at a time the government is spending billions to stimulate the economy.
This is not a little issue, Please Help,
Mary Conver
....End of Form Letter
Click Here to Sign the Petition
I realize this is not what you've come to expect from my light and airy blog. But this will be soooo damaging to families and businesses across the country, that I couldn't ignore it.
If you have a job at a small business, even if you don't have kids and don't shop consignments and yard sales, and you currently don't need charity, this will still effect you. If businesses close, your job is in jeopardy. Your business likely depends on the other income of businesses that will have to close. You are not exempt from this.
MJ
ps- I promise to post something pleasant and useless again soon. :-)
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