Our Government at Work

For those of you who don't know, Congress passed a law recently, the CPSIA, that will essentially put all your favorite handmade and small children's product manfufacturer's (including me) out of business. As of Feb 10 everyone who makes products for children under 12 including clothing, books, toys, etc, has to have a general conformity certificate stating that their product has been tested for lead. Any non-conforming items must be destroyed after that date. What the government has failed to take into consideration is the affect this will have on all the small at home type businesses. Lead testing can cost upwards of thousands of dollars per item, not to mention the fact that textiles usually have no lead in them. If you think this won't affect you because you don't buy handmade items, think again, you will see an increase in the cost of all childrens clothing and products as manufacturers try to meet the testing standards. Right now many in the industry are trying to get the law amended to exempt small handmade items or at least allow them to use the conformity certificates from their suppliers. I want my children's products to be safe just as much as the next person, but this law essentially punishes those who are already using lead free products in their items. Check out www.fashion-incubator.com/blog/ and http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia or http://reformcpsia.org/ for more info.