To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:40:31 -0600
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] "new" rules for the CPSIA legislation


Here are some links that y'all might want to look at.
http://www.change.org:80/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia?full_thread=true

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=32

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/how-you-can-help/

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/legislation.html

Many Etsy artists and craftspeople have expressed fears that they won't be 
able stay in business due to the burdensome cost of testing and 
certification
pursuant to the proposed legislation. Understandably, this is am issue of 
great community concern:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5949146
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5948588
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5950128
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5935591
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5939104

Here is an email that I received on this subject"
"Save the USA from the CPSIA

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 it 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, however, the
costs of mandatroy 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 $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 dolls to sell at craft
fairs 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 toys that have earned
and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe.
The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys 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.

How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to
request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample
letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and
Senator here.

Thank you so much! "

Lucky Stradley
Hubbell, Nebraska

lrc-AT-gpcom.net

http://luckystradley.blogspot.com/
~~last update 11/2/2008~~

http://www.picturetrail.com/13luckyme
~~picture trail last updated 6/9/2006~~

http://community.webshots.com/user/beenlucky
I am trying this site out for listing pictures.
~~last update 7/13/2006~~

Always Lucky...well most of the time!





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