CPSIA: A Bad Law with Good Intentions

Hey, parents. You want safe products for your kids, right? Nobody likes to worry that their kid's lunchbox contains lead, or that the water bottle that you pack in that lunchbox has phthalates that will leach into that water. And what about your baby's pacifier? Or that necklace your daughter is wearing? We all know that lead can be deadly if ingested, and that phthalates are toxic. Keep them away from my kids, I say.

After a rash of children's products were recalled in 2007 and 2008, Congress decided to do something to increase the safety of all children's products. It passed the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

The CPSIA stipulates a roll-out of more stringent standards for lead and phthalate content of all products intended for use by children up to the age of twelve. Yes, that's ALL PRODUCTS, even the hand-knit booties you bought at your local craft fair. And the Paul Frank 100% cotton t-shirt you got for your ten-year-old. And that Captain Underpants paperback.

The first date of enactment was in November of 2008. Starting then, all new children's products had to be certified as meeting current safety standards, with manufacturers required to produce a General Certificate of Compliance (GCC) for every single item that they produce if requested by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Starting on February 10, 2009, new, lower limits for lead and phthalates will go into effect, and all manufacturers will have to show proof of testing and provide a GCC for every item. In August, the limits will be lowered again, and manufacturers will no longer be able to test their products themselves, but will have to submit them to a third party for testing and certification.

On the face of it, not such a bad law, right? We all want safe products for our children, and the sooner the better.

However...

There are serious flaws with this law that will impact almost every business that deals in children's products, and every person who buys any children's product.

First, the law is retroactive for lead content. This means that all products currently on store shelves, even those manufactured prior to the law's passage, are required to be certified as meeting today's standard for lead content. This places an enormous burden on someone (we haven't figured out just who, yet), as testing every product, even those that obviously do not contain lead, is beyond the budgets of most businesses. Simply throwing away inventory that was ordered and paid for months before is also not in any business' budget.

Second, this law has been written in an overly broad manner, so that those obviously-don't-contain-lead products are not exempt. T-shirts, socks, leggings...heck, anything without a fastener of some sort, still must be tested. Books, bedding, organic cotton baby kimonos and plush toys? Those too. Even handmade items, like quilts and hairbows will have to be tested before they can be sold legally. And every single component on every single item, for every new batch that's manufactured, has to be tested.

I've seen cost estimates for third-party testing of a single multi-component item that were as high as $3,000 per item. For small companies that do limited runs, or mompreneurs selling their goods at craft fairs or on Etsy, this law is essentially a death knell for their businesses.

Larger companies might be able to manage the financing of the testing, but guess what? They certainly aren't going to absorb the cost into their bottom line. Some people are saying that prices of children's items will rise as much as 30%. Yes, that's consumer prices. Yikes.

Don't take my word on this...I'm not a lawyer, and while I have studied up somewhat on the regulations, I'm not the source. You can read more about this at www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML.

And if you'd like to see some changes made to this law, please get in touch with your local Congressperson and Senator. You can also weigh in at Change.gov, where the issue is in the running to come up for consideration by the Obama administration.