Thursday, January 08, 2009

I Hope Someone Tells Me This Is a Hoax

I'm pretty skeptical of most email forwards I get or shocking declarations of drastic changes in laws or policies. I usually check on snopes.com to see if there's any validity to the claims, and am usually alerted to where the scam or story began.

But this one seems to be true.

It sounds like a good idea. Test children's products (including books, clothing, and toys) for lead and keep the tainted items off the market. I don't want my baby having lead poisoning and I am careful about what she puts in her mouth because of that. I know someone personally who deals with lead poisoning from paint chips she ate and it has profoundly impacted her life.

But this new law that was supposedly signed into effect in August of 2008 will cause all retailers to pull toys, clothing, and books off the shelf if they haven't been tested for lead by an independent 3rd party. And it's not as simple as sending a lead-detecting police dog through the store. Some places claim it can cost $500 per item to be tested for lead. It would include consignment stores and thrift stores.

Here are some links that I've run across.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML

And a website to try to do something about it:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Something tells me that this just isn't going to happen.

1 comment:

Whatever said...

I heard about this too and it is my understanding that they have changed that law now. All NEW clothes have to be tested prior to being sold anywhere, but not the old clothes. Consignment, Thrift Stores, ebay and garage sales are now allowed to sell used clothing & toys. I'm sure there will have to be some statement on each thing saying they haven't been tested, but they at least can still be sold.