Isn't it funny how predictable my blog is. I post quite often for a few months and then go MIA for about two months. And what usually brings me back to posting? Why an activism, of course!
One of the reasons I stopped posting is that I finally decided to start selling my crochet playfoods. How ironic is it that when I finally get the guts to start my business, a law may pass efficiently ending my business plans completly. Please take action on this. While a good idea, the current wording will effectivly end all cottage/WAHM business in the US.
Everyone wants safer toys and other items for their kids -- there's no question of that. So in 2008, Congress approved the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a sweeping reform of current safety legislation. Sounds great, right? Now our kids can be protected from lead and phthalates in numerous products, and who on earth would vote against that?
Well, the trouble is the broad scope of the legislation. It doesn't target only plastic or lead-painted toys from China. It targets every single item made and sold in the United States that will be used on or around children. Whether you're a giant corporation importing toys, or a tiny garage business making wooden toys, or, like me, a mom crocheting toys to provide her children with lessons, everything has to be tested. And this means, every fabric, every color, every different color of ring, has to be tested for lead. Testing done by the fabric manufacturers themselves is not enough -- it's finished products that have to be tested, so just testing upstream is not sufficient. Every small business will be required to test each and every component of its items for sale, and label them with a batch number and date of manufacture. This includes thread, buttons, fabric, etc. If they do not comply, they are in violation of federal law and could be subject to fines up to $100,000 PER ITEM - and even jail time. Any children's items made before this date that are not tested and certified lead-free are considered banned hazardous waste and cannot be sold after February 10, 2009. Even fabrics and other materials that were tested by their manufacturer not to contain lead must have third-party testing done.
Testing for lead costs more than $100 per item. For me, that means a conservative estimate of $8000, based on my current yarn inventory (add another $2000+ if I add more colors or fibers in the future, which I will need to do eventually). If I expand to sell aprons and chef hats I would also need to test thread, zippers and snaps -- each different color -- so I would be looking at around $10,000 (minimum) in testing. That's a huge amount of money that simply isn't available.
Obviously, that is totally unsustainable for a small business, or even a big one. My business, along with pretty much every single other cottage industry, would be forced to close down, or face fines of $100,000 and even jail time for violating this law. If we pass the costs on to you, the consumer, we'd be looking at price increases of 2-5 times the current prices at least.
This goes for other textile items as well... including knit hats, blankets, cloth diapers, stuffed animals and other plush, and boutique clothing. Every WAHM producing anything of that nature will be affected by the law. Keep in mind that lead levels in fabric are already low -- on the order of <10ppm. The standards right now are 900ppm, falling to 90ppm in the future. Even at that level, the vast majority of fabrics (barr those with plasticized overlays, which have been an issue in the past) would pass... but the act doesn't specify that fabrics are exempt.
The economic impacts this law has on business in America cannot be understated. One gentleman has gone so far as to dub the day the testing provisions go into effect (Feb 10, 2009) "National Bankruptcy Day", because any business that hasn't tested its products will be unable to even liquidate its inventory (since untested products are assumed to be full of lead and thus hazardous), leading to mass bankruptcies. That's NOT what our already-shrinking economy needs right now.
The law was well-intentioned, to keep children from getting sick and dying from lead poisoning. But it ignores the fact that the vast majority of lead-tainted products were from large manufacturers, almost universally imported from Asia, and instead puts this impossible testing standard squarely on the backs of small American businesses, the very ones that Americans want to shop with right now for their record of safety and honesty. What this act will end up doing is making it impossible for small businesses to compete (since the costs of testing will have to be passed on to consumers, and small businesses will pay disproportionately compared to big ones), and limiting the choices Americans have in their shopping.
These sites offer more information:
Handmade toy alliance
Fashion Incubator
Petition to the Consumer Products Safety Commission
National Bankruptcy Day
If you value small businesses and handmade products, I urge you to contact your representatives, sign the petition above, and email the CPSC and let them know that this act is *not* what you want. Handmade products are historically far safer than imported, mass-produced ones, yet the latter will be all that is left in the marketplace if the act goes into effect as written.
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4 comments:
That's really sad. I love homemade toys! My sister, Heather, just began selling her own: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6238344
Does it matter if you get a patent?
This is indeed an outrage. Leave it to our government to take a grassroots effort toward better quality and make it apply only (or mostly) to our own people that were already trying to solve said problem and largely ignore the products and source-countries that we were really trying to stay away from anyway, making worthless crap the only choice many people will have. KC utters stream of choice profanity.
On the upside, it seems that you will still be able to make toys for your own children, though you might be having to pay higher prices from the materials you already use. I will do what I can.
KC
Jill,
Nope a patent won't matter. She will need to test every color of felcro, every color of snap, every color/print of fabric - you get the idea. Expensive tests will most certainly be out of her price range. Tragic, isn't it.
KC,
Thanks! Every little bit helps. It is indeed sad and seems so obviously rediculous.
It goes far beyond this. No more garage sales, thrift stores would be hit hard, no more used children's books (they're included too) sold on Amazon or eBay. No more Craigslist or Freecycle for children's goods. *Any* child's item made before that date and not tested would be only good for the landfill.
My husband was talking about this with me and he said "Do you really think the local police would hand out tickets at garage sales?" Please. At even a paltry $10 or $25 ticket for illegally selling children's items, the local police could really supplement their floundering budgets.
What a joke this is.
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