Thursday, January 8, 2009

Nanny State goes Federal

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China violated the public's trust - selling toys with dangerous lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, and toys that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in 2008, which bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and permanent labels on 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 updating their molds to include batch labels.

For small American toymakers the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will drive them out of business. American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy aren’t the only ones impacted – used toys and clothing will be eliminated from thrift stores – artisans who design children’s clothing will be shut down.

Unless the law is modified handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Please write or call your Congressperson and ask that this law be revised to ensure the economic well being of small U.S. businesses. Visit www.handmadetoyalliance.org for more details and for how you can help.

Isn't that great? we know the problem came from China but as usual we are going to punnish eveyone for it. Cut off our nose to spite our face as they say. Drop a note - US Consumer Protection Agency is soliciting comments on the new law. Please PLEASE go to their website and implore them to revise the law and help them recognize the significantly negative impact (and unintended consequences) that this law brings to our economy.

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