CPSIA – Please save handmade.

The following text was taken from www.handmadetoyalliance.org.

The issue:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public’s trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers and manufacturers of children’s products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.

• A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 – $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
• A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes cloth diapers to sell online must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
• A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
• And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children’s goods that have earned and kept the public’s trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children’s products will no longer be legal in the US.

If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.

This video by a small business owner perfectly describes some of the concerns crafters & artisans across the country have.

In addition, this new law will affect consignment & resale of items that have not been tested (Goodwill/Salvation Army) & will apply to current inventory any stores might have. What will happen to all those items that won’t be tested?

There are some great videos on YouTube that address those questions. The following links will direct you to a three part speech by Rick Woldenberg of Learning Resources, supplier of educational toys to schools. This is information is enlightening. Each video is 6-8 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlY6zOMPqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlMh7MJiodY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk0Vr0yDrXc&feature=related

Now, you may be wondering “What Can I Do?” Here are a few things you can do today.

1. BLOG about this. Many artisans, toy-makers & consumers still don’t know about this law.

2. Sign this petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/handmadetoys?e

3. Write your congressman or senator.

To help you out, here is a form letter you can copy & send:

From: [your name and address]

To: [your congress person or senator]

Re: Changes needed to the Consumer Product Improvement Act (CPSIA) to Save Handmade Toys in the USA

Dear [your congress person or senator],

Like many people, I was deeply concerned by the dangerous and poisonous toys that large Chinese toy manufacturers have been selling to our nations families. And, I was very pleased that Congress acted quickly to protect America’s children by enacting the CPSIA.

However, I am very concerned that the CPSIA’s mandates for third party testing and labeling will have a dramatic and negative effect on small toymakers and in the USA, Canada, and Europe, whose toy safety record has always been exemplary. It will also devastate small manufacturers of children’s clothes and other handmade goods for children.

Because of the fees charged by Third Party testing companies, many manufacturers, especially makers of beautiful wooden toys and unique children’s clothes from Maine to Oregon will be driven out of business. Their cottage workshops simply do not make enough money to afford the $4,000 price tag per toy that Third Party testers are charging.

I urge you to quickly request the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make some very reasonable exclusions in their interpretation of the law as they continue their rulemaking process. For example, manufacturers should be able to rely on testing done by their materials suppliers instead of paying for redundant unit-based testing. I would also like to see an exemption to third party testing requirements for micro-businesses similar to the exemptions granted by the FDA for small producers under the food labeling laws.

If you feel that testing should still be required, then the CPSC should be made to offer free testing services for small manufacturers.

These toy makers and crafters have earned and kept the public’s trust. They provide jobs for hundreds and quality playthings for thousands. Their unique businesses should be protected. Please visit www.handmadetoyalliance.org to learn more about this issue.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[your name]