This Post is CPSIA Compliant

After extensive testing, this blog post has been found to be free of lead and phthalates, and thus is safe for all children, under the age of 12, as specified by the Consumer Porduct Safety Improvement Act.

Which is - apparently - a great deal of hogwash. I try not to get overtly political on this blog, because this is supposed to just be about me and my family and our domestic little lives in Bliss Town. But the more I read about the CPSIA, the more irritated I get.

Do you like a good deal on toys or children's clothes at a garage sale or the local second hand store? Do you buy used items through Amazon? Do any of your friends make their living on Etsy, Craiglist or eBay? Well, send them a letter of condolences, because they're about to be driven out of business by this useless piece of legislation. In fact, someone-who-knows-more-about-it-than-I-do was quoted in the Wall Street Journal calling February 10th

National Bankruptcy Day

because that's the day the CPSIA regulations begin implimentation. I don't want to wax irrational or isolationist, but I think each and every one of us should do something. After all, isn't this supposed to be government for the people, by the people?

The Lowdown:

Here is an article written by the owner of a family business, concerning the CPSIA. I excerpt parts of it below:
The CPSIA (Consumer Produce Safety Improvement Act) was passed in August 2008 and goes into effect on February 10, 2009. It was passed in response to recent lead paint scares involving imported toys.

Here are just a few results of this law:
1. The children's resale market will be seriously impacted. While new updates to the CPSIA state that resale shops can continue to sell used children's items without testing them, the updates also state that no one can sell used children's items that violate the new testing standard. Selling these "banned hazardous materials" is a felony offense with a $100,000 fine and jail time - and without performing the testing, resale shops and other resellers have no way of knowing if their items are in compliance. Many used children's items venues just aren't willing to take that kind of risk and are closing their doors in spite of the updates to the CPSIA.
2. The used children's book market will cease to exist.
3. All small and cottage industries related to children's products will have to close their doors. This includes natural, organic, and/or handmade products.
4. Many mid-size companies are closing because of the enormous financial burden of the testing and the paperwork nightmare created by the necessary labeling, tracking, and certification of their products.
5. Many homeschool authors and publishers will be going out of business.
6. The economy will be impacted on several levels: economically challenged families who rely on the children's resale market will suffer, families who lose their businesses will suffer, and families with members who lose their jobs due to businesses closing will suffer. Many related industries (those who produce support products like packaging, equipment, etc.) will suffer from the loss of companies who once bought their products. The companies who can afford the testing will surely pass their costs to all of us.
7. The environmental impact will be staggering as resale shops and other business are forced to dispose of their inventory, and as families who would have donated or sold their children's used items will be forced to discard them.
8. Our freedom to choose the products that we feel are best for our children will be severely hampered. We, for example, place a high value on children's toys made from natural materials like wood or wool, or items that are handmade. We will no longer be able to purchase these items for our children.
9. At this point, libraries will have to ban children 12 and under OR remove all children's books. I have no idea what the impact will be on schools!

Here is another excerpt from another site:
There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.

If you're in the industry, go here to sign a petition. We can all go here to contact our represantitives in the House and in the Senate.

I'm sure our benevelent government is doing it's best to help us all survive these troubled times. It sure sounds like it!
Even if you're not the sort to usually get involved, this is huge. Say something. Do something.