Making sure our kids are safe
Everybody who has kids knows how important it is to keep them safe. I am the mother of 3 and the youngest is 18 months old and puts everything in her mouth. So, of course, I was extremely concerned when I heard about the lead and phthalates problem in certain children toys.
All parents talked about how awful it was and that it is amazing that this could happen in today’s world. So the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) decided to do something about it and the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) was passed.
Basically, the Commission has decided to request that all manufacturer / retailers get all their products, intended primarily for children 12 years and younger, to be tested. No product is allowed to contain more than 600 ppm of lead (as of February 10, 2009), 300 ppm of lead (as of August 14, 2009); 100 ppm after three years (as of August 14, 2011), unless the Commission determines that it is not technologically feasible to have this lower limit.” All testing has to be performed by a laboratory accepted by the Commission. For more details, please click here
Of course, this is causing a big commotion, since thousands of small and medium-sized businesses may go out of business because they can’t afford (it can cost up to $ 4,000 per toy) getting all their products tested to the CPSIA standards.
However, when this act was made the CPSC included all children-product manufacturer, even businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children. In short, the entire children’s industry is affected.
They simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public’s trust and unless the law is not modified, handmade children’s products will no longer be legal in the US.
Thousands of citizens and business are standing together to fight the pending demise of handmade children’s products. A “Help Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA” has already more than 15,000 members, and is gaining members every day.
Who doesn’t want their child to be safe? But is it really realistic to implement such a law on such short notice? And shouldn’t all business, small and large, be considered?
My oldest is 5 ½ years old and I remember already hearing about phthalates back then and I remember looking at all products before buying them to make sure they didn’t contain phthalates. Did I get annoyed when most products didn’t even seem to care about writing whether or not they contained phthalates? Yes, because being a first-time mom you just want the best for your baby. But I don’t believe in pushing this law through so fast that many businesses will have to close their doors, ESPECIALLY since the current economy situation is already doing hurting small companies really badly. There has to be a better way of doing this.
UPDATE: The CPSC has granted a 1 year stay of testing and certification requirements.
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