Save Small Business from the CPSIA - Ideas for Change in America

What do you think is the most effective way to turn this idea into real policy? Add your suggestions here for how you think we should run an advocacy campaign to advance the idea – including the overall strategy, messaging, targets, and tactics.

Approach this from the standpoint that people reading this forum already agree with you on the importance of the issue, and are asking "What can we do to help make this a reality?"

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I have to agree with Diane - if we wanted to campaign to show the errancy in this law, it would be easy enough to point out that children very often put things in their mouths that are not "children's" items.

There are really two thoughts here: one is that items for general market are exempted. So testing will not be required on pens and pencils, silverware, dishware, pots and pans, plastic food containers (such as tube yogurt), etc. All of these are things that are actually PUT INTO the mouths of children under 12 on a regular basis! Isn't (at least some of) the point of this law to protect children from putting items in their mouths that may contain lead? If so, then Congress missed a lot of items.

It should be pointed out that what started the lead-in-paint regulations years ago was that children were putting peeling, flaking paint in their mouths over a period of time.

So, second is the fact that young children can and do put everything within reach into their mouths. I was watching my four month old the other day - his big brother handed him an object and it went straight into the mouth of the youngest. He sucks on the carpeting, for goodness sakes!

How does this law *really* protect our children?

I'd hate to start a slam campaign, but these are very real issues, and upon thinking about it, if I felt this law protected my children at all, it would be because they looked at non-children's items that might contain lead, too. And stopped worrying about dyed yarn.

As a side note, I agree with other posters that we must push for small-batch exemptions and opt-out disclaimers.

And one other thing to be considered - if we push the "Made in America" thing one must realize that a lot of small businesses use cloth from fabric stores like JoAnns. I talked to an employee at JoAnns a couple days ago and found out that their cloth is imported. As far as she could tell me, it's been tested, but perhaps a better plan than "Made in America" would be "Made in America, Europe, or Certified lead-free." This would also solve the problem of European toy companies pulling out of the US market due to the prohibitive testing costs that would be redundant due to EU standards (which are often higher than US standards.)

Suggested by Candice Mangum on 01/18/2009 @ 04:08PM PT
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The law definately needs to hold clarifications and updates for small businesses. At what point do we use at least a small bit of common sense and realize that the composition of materials do not just change simply becuase they are now being used by a small business?

A small business owner who buys natural cloth for a childs dress does not have the resources to test each and every product that is produced yet the suppliers who own large businessess have already had the cloth tested as have the thread makers and needle makers. The small business owner can no longer afford to make a dress because of the new laws and now goes out of business leaving consumers to look elsewhere for the dress. The small business owner has now lost income again and can't afford to run a business and goes under.

With a clarification to the new laws, the suppliers materials have been tested as lead free and are considered safe for the consumer to use but not resale? With that simple update it should make the material resaleable to another company with the understanding that the previous testing was done and the purchaser isn't changing the composition of the materials being used for the new item being produced.

While trying to protect the public from lead in products and creating new laws, the sweeping "one size fits all" laws never seem to take into account small business owners and the impact the new laws will have on their businesses. Not just small business but what of the homeowner that has a garage sale once a year? Will "buy at your own risk" signs now be necessary because the items were never tested for lead before they were resold? And the church that holds its annual rummage sale or crafts fair to make money? Definate amendments and clarifications need to be made to the existing laws to take into account small business owners.

Suggested by Kelly Keane on 01/18/2009 @ 03:52PM PT
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Spread awareness of this issue by making handbills and posting them or passing them out in venues like craft fairs or local events where people sell handmade items. I suspect that most people are ignorant of this proposed legislation and the best way to fight is to inform! I make clothing for adults to sell on etsy.com and had hoped to expand to baby and children's clothing; now that idea is on indefinite hold. I agree with previous posters who suggest to do the testing/legislating at the materials level. Then the people like me can craft in confidence and know what we sell is safe.

Suggested by Donna Donaldson on 01/18/2009 @ 02:54PM PT
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I'm a small business owner. The majority of the items I sell are from local and independent designers. If this law passes is it will change the face of my business. I will loose thousands of dollars in inventory and I will have to stop selling children's merchandise. My customers love the handmade items I sell and come to my shop expecting to find quality handmade items. If the law does pass why can't they make the testing machines more accessible?

Suggested by Jennifer Viale on 01/18/2009 @ 12:42PM PT
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I wish to voice an opinion. I, like many others, hesitate to buy when I see an item made in China for my grandchildren. As a consumer I don't mind paying just a little extra to know the item I'm buying for my grandkids is safe. Now, that been said, I also don't want to see the small business or the "mom and pop" business or the crafter go out of business because they can't afford to have their products tested for safety. I feel like the burden should be put on the company that supplies the material for the crafter or the small business person. They can absorb the cost of testing what they sell through bulk production. I don't claim to understand all the rules and regulations that a big corporation goes through, but they could show responsibility by testing their products first before it goes out to be used in the crafting world. I like to knit, and I would like to knit using yarns that I know will be safe to use in baby blankets and what have you, to give as gifts for family and friends. I won't know that if there isn't some sort of notification somewhere on the ball of yarn that it has been tested as safe. Especially if that ball of yarn was manufactured overseas. I would feel much better about purchasing yarn from local producers that use organic material and list the ingredients as all natural as opposed to synthetic material. Yes there needs to be labeling, before a product is sold, but the burden should be put on the bigger companies and not the little guy. The little guy who gets the materials from the big companies can carry a label on their products saying it has been tested for safety prior to being turned into a craft item, I would then feel safe to purchase the product knowing it has been tested, otherwise no label, no purchase.

Suggested by Sara Rawlins on 01/18/2009 @ 12:17PM PT
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Changes in this law should not be limited just to the children's toys, but to all handmade and home crafted items for children. Naturally occuring materials that are inherently lead free should be excluded from this law - things like organic cotton, unfinished wood toys, silver, gold, stone, etc. When the company that manufactures a "part" certifies that the part is lead free, that should be good enough for the CPSA as long as that part is incorporated "as is" into the finished product. I make baby bracelets. If the clasps and beads and cord or wire are certified lead-free by the parts manufacturers, why should it have to be tested again. Since each bracelet I make is made on the spot while the parents wait for it, and are "custom" with the child's name built in, there is no way they can be tested after manufacture.

Suggested by Judy Fritts on 01/18/2009 @ 12:10PM PT
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Lead has been banned for use in paint since the 70's ... why not make that law apply to other areas of US production where there are alternatives to (because we know lead on light bulbs and some electronics there isn't an alternative too) and then require the third party US testing and certificates on ALL items coming into the US and mandate special requests/permission for items that must use lead that is coming into the US.

Suggested by Carol Schott on 01/18/2009 @ 12:06PM PT
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I think everyone should be sending emails and/or snail mail to the legislators and maybe to newspapers? Squeaky wheel gets the oil.
I never knew this law was ever even in the works until I accidently found it while roaming around on the internet. I'm not a small business but I don't like the back door approach to try to put small businesses OUT of business by raising the operating costs. It's like the big businesses had a tantrum and screamed " If I have to do it why doesn't she have to do it?!!"

Suggested by kathy gibson on 01/18/2009 @ 10:44AM PT
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Like so many other small business owners in the U.S., I am a home based business. I rely on purchase of materials from reputable manufacturers, materials which have been manufactured and tested and proven to be in compliance with all required lead and phthalate safety levels. My use of these materials involves assembling, sewing, embroidering and embellishing. I do not in any way alter the chemical composition of these components. It defies logic to require any further testing beyond what is done at the manufacturing stage, so long as I can provide the documentation that is passed along to me by my suppliers.
This is how this law should be written. Any further requirement of domestic small business is onerous and unreasonable.

Suggested by Patricia Henning on 01/18/2009 @ 10:29AM PT
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I think it would be a good idea to try and come up with figures for sales of handmade children's products. Maybe the media isn't paying a whole lot of attention (and when they do, they say it will be a "small impact on the economy") because we're a rather scattered bunch. It's not like we're a big blob of Mattel bringing in $5.970 million in revenue per year (or whatever).

That brings me to my second idea : How about a compare and contrast? In 2007 (the Year of the Recall), Mattel was responsible for over 19 million of those in the month of August alone. Guess where they were manufactured? On the CPSC website you can look at lists of recalled children's products. I did it the other night. In fact, my two kids looked at a bunch of the stuff with me. They were laughing at how psychotic some of the toys looked and the descriptions of laceration hazard, impalement, needles in stuffed animals, entrapment hazard, spontaneous explosion...the kind of nervous laughing you do at a horror movie. The vast majority of the toys listed were made in China. I saw one near the top that was made in the U.S. and recalled for a choking hazard, but that's all I could find.

I also took a trip to Walmart the other day. I walked around the toy section and picked up every item possible to check out where it was made. Out of everything I looked at (and I was there an hour - the salesperson thought I was shoplifting) I found a Radio Flyer wagon made in the U.S., two Peg Perego ride on toys made in the U.S., a cardboard puzzle & Random House books made in the U.S., and a bag of marbles made in Mexico. Every other single item was made in China.

So, to sum up : Try to get actual numbers for the Handmade Community and their customers, do a specific comparison between that recalled crap and our stuff, push the Made in America thing.

you can look at the toy recalls here :

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html

Suggested by a. d. spain on 01/18/2009 @ 09:53AM PT
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