Think CPSIA Doesn’t Affect You? Please Think Again.
January 15, 2009 by Loretta
Filed under Craft Business
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The CPSIA does not just affect toys–it regulates all products for children under 12. Clothing, school supplies, cloth diapers, car seats, boy scout patches, bicycles, sippy cups–everything. Congress in its wisdom decided that a problem caused by irresponsible mass-market toymakers should be solved with a one-size-fits-all solution for dozens of industries totally unrelated to toys. – from Handmade Toy Alliance (emphasis is mine)
Have you ever taken your daughter to the local hair salon for a trim and walked out with a handful of those crazy popular corker bows? Or bought her custom barrettes to match an outfit at a cute boutique downtown? Chances are someone HANDMADE those hair accessories that you purchased.
Bought your toddler a nice set of organic wooden blocks recently? Were they manufactured by a big toy company or were they HANDMADE in someone’s personal workshop.
Love those awesome organic fabric all-in-one washable diapers you bought for your baby? Very few big companies dish those out, most of the ones purchased online are HANDMADE by a mom or small family owned companies.
Do you homeschool or have you ever considered homeschooling? That’s right, homeschoolers are going to be impacted hugely by CPSIA as well. They’re not the only ones….
It will devastate small manufacturers and home businesses who create children’s products such as clothes, handmade goods and toys for children, beautiful Native American artifacts, children’s books, adaptive products for children with disabilities, and classroom and homeschool materials. These small businesses simply cannot afford the $300-$4,000 price tag per product that Third Party testers are charging.
Is your neighborhood suffering from the current state of the economy? Unemployment is on the rise all over the country. I have literally lost count of the number of people we know that have lost their jobs due to layoffs, downsizing, and companies closing just within the past two months! Small businesses are at the heart of America trying to hold things together. CPSIA threatens to put many of those small businesses out of business.
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How can crafters unite and fight this? While I do feel the intent is good, but there needs to be some waivers for crafters or something!
Craft Kits’s last blog post..Home Decor Style
While I have no doubt that the CPSIA has the wellbeing of children at heart, and this is more than likely a reaction to the lead contamination of children’s toys coming out of China, this is really going to hurt people who run small businesses.
Do they have statistics on how many children are affected by lead in such products, I wonder? I wonder also how many children are affected by lead in mining areas, as happened here in Queensland last year – many children were diagnosed with lead poisoning in the mining town of Mt Isa.
I think this will hurt more than it will help.