I know this blog is usually fun and games, but it would mean a lot if you took the time to read this.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is a new law in the US. And it's completely illogical. It's aim is to keep lead and other dangerous chemicals out of children's products. I think this is a great idea. This just isn't the way to do it.
To be in compliance with the laws anyone who makes children's products (primarily toys and clothing) are required to have a sample of EVERY product they make tested for lead and other chemicals. The law isn't clear but until a few lawsuits go through the courts it's safe to assume that even different colourways of the same product need to independently tested.
Testing each product will cost a manufacturers around $4000 based on common estimates.
Even products that won't or CAN'T contain lead need to be tested - organic cotton fabrics, unfinished wood and aluminum are a few examples.
Even one of a kind objects need to be made twice so that one can be tested (meaning that if you want a one of a kind garment for your child you'll have to expect it to cost more than $4000.)
The sample that is tested is destroyed. Not that big of a deal for one item, but if you manufacturer dozens or hundreds of items this along will add up fast.
There are very few testing facilities in the US so most of the testing will be done in China. In addition to at least a billion dollars a year flooding out of the US and into China, the law exists primarily because goods imported from China contained lead. That's $1,000,000,000 if you're counting zeros.
There doesn't seem to be a consensus on what constitutes a 'children's item'. Kids don't have keys so they don't need keychains, but I know I had keychains as a kid. Is this a children's product?
The penalty for not conforming to this law (first offense) is up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison with a felony. Seems a little excessive, especially considering what the penalties are for violent, dangerous or drug related crimes.
By requiring every product to be tested by every company the government is assuming that every manufacturer is guilty until proven innocent over and over and over.
This will make everything you buy more expensive, especially if you have kids that you put in clothing or give toys to.
It will also drastically reduce the number of products available because every manufacturer has to be confident that a product will sell at least $4000 more than previously just to cover their costs. Most small manufacturers will have to stop making things all together.
Would you like to take a guess at how many children would have been saved in the last year if this law had been in place? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Nope. NONE. NOT ONE CHILD'S LIFE WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED BY THIS LAW. One child would have been prevented from injury. Doubt me? You can read the breakdown here.
The cost of testing one product is more than many small businesses (especially those based on etsy) make in a year. This law will mean thousands of US based business going out of business. Thousand and thousands of people will lose their jobs. Thousands of products that were designed and manufactured in the US to be better - organic, responsible, or extra safe - will no longer be available. Major corporations will be able to pay the testing costs for goods made overseas and imported by the tens of thousands. Small businesses will not. There will be no more new businesses marketing children's goods - the liability is just too high. Even high quality goods from small businesses in other countries will stop being available in the US.
This isn't just about kids, it's about everyone. There are small businesses in your community, city, and state that will go out of business because of this. We're worried about losing banks and car companies, but apparently congress believes we can afford to willfully eliminate thousands and thousands of jobs because small businesses lack the lobbying power of major companies.
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. CALL THEM. Tell them how you feel, ask them if they know what the law will cost, how many jobs will be lost and how many children will be saved. BE PREPARED WITH STATISTICS. It's much easier to argue with opinions than numbers. No one is saying that we shouldn't protect kids from lead - I am, however, saying that there are a lot of ways to do this in a reasonable way and still keep kids safe. What about random government sponsored testing of products, the ability to test supplies instead of finished products (so if you use the same thread in everything you make you can have it cleared once) or eliminating things that cannot contain the dangerous chemicals in question?
Go here, pick your state and pick up the phone. You pay taxes, right? You have the right and obligation to do this if it matters to you. These people work for you but they can't do what you want them to if you don't tell them what you want them to do.
Now that you see the problems with this, want to know some things that would really save kids? Here are some:
Eliminate trampolines - save approx 125,000 children's injuries (and about 1 death) every year
Eliminate playgrounds - save approx 200,000 children's injuries and 15 deaths every year
Eliminate kid's sports - save approx 775,000 children's injuries a year
17,000 kids are injured in school buses every year.
Here's a good list of statistics on what actually injures and kills kids. Compare this to the one injured child from last year and you can see that there are a lot of ways all of this effort could be better directed.
Okay, I'll wrap this up but really, you've got to be able to see the many, many problems with this law.
Thanks for reading all of this,
Kris
Additional Links
Jim DeMint is doing his best to rewrite this law. Help him by calling your officials and reposting info about this. Congress is affected by popular opinion. Affect the popular opinion.
Etsy's Info on the topic
Etsy's forum on the topic
CPSIA references on Twitter
The CPSC's Info
Change.org's Info
CPSIA Discussion
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This is my latest project. It is a lamp, but the picture only shows it glowing, not turned on. It's posted (complete with how-to) on Instructables. I used 3D modeling/printing, laser cut acrylic, resin casting, UV reactive pigment, LEDs and some simple wiring. It's fun, check it out (and vote if you think it's worthy!)
