I wonder if she'll be able to give me a cost estimate on this.
I also have a display case for next month at the library- you creative types out there, can you help me figure out ideas for what to put in the display? I was thinking about examples of different products the CPSIA bans or severely limits- ballpoint pens, coats with zippers, books- perhaps a model of a motorbike with a picture of kids dirt-biking? I would greatly appreciate all suggestions, no matter how trivial.
Read all about the required testing for phthalates here. It's complicated and somewhat toxic
They call it Safe Online Shopping. I'd call it Sinister OverSight, or Spies Out Shopping:
As a result of the explosive growth in electronic commerce, the CPSC established an Internet surveillance project - Operation Safe On-Line Shopping (Operation SOS). The goal of this project is to find potentially hazardous, recalled, illegal or defective consumer products being sold on the World Wide Web. This activity is an expansion of the kind of retail surveillance work we already do in brick and mortar stores across the country and in monitoring catalog sales.
CPSC staff members pose as consumers while surfing various retail/auction sites, manufacturer sites, news groups, and other sites that may provide leads to hazardous consumer products. We do this to make sure we are having the same experiences that a consumer would have while using the internet. When staff identifies a product that may be hazardous, they use non-government credit cards that were issued in pseudonyms to purchase the same products consumers would receive and have them delivered to an address that cannot be identified as the Commission. CPSC staff has identified and followed-up on a variety of dangerous and/or violative products being sold on-line, including: toys and rattles, flammable children's sleepwear, prescription drugs without child-resistant packaging, children's jackets with drawstrings, baby hammocks, and cigarette lighters without child-resistant safety mechanisms.
As Operation SOS has progressed, staff has found that it offers additional opportunities to strengthen the Commission's compliance program. Thus, as staff conducts surveillance, they also identify domestic and international manufacturers and retailers that are selling products similar to those the staff has already found violate mandatory safety standards or pose substantial product hazards. Staff also orders catalogues over the Internet to view various companies' complete product lines and they purchase product samples to evaluate compliance with standards. In addition, staff provides e-guidance about CPSC rules to small new firms that they find on the Web.
Gymboree loses money:
Gymboree Corp (GYMB.O) forecast a bleak first quarter as regulatory changes related to product safety significantly weigh down on the children's clothing retailer, slamming its shares down 40 percent in aftermarket trading.The company says a change in the phthalate regs wiped out 1.7 million in sleepwear for children 3 and under. That would be the retroactive portion, I would guess. Manufacturers had months to comply with that, days, in fact, whereas in Europe, held up as a model by all the Naderite promoters of the bill, businesses were given over 3 years advance warning to prepare, if my information is correct.
The company, which expects the challenging retail environment to continue throughout fiscal 2009, sees first-quarter earnings substantially below analysts' view.
Gymboree said regulatory changes related the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) passed by the Congress in August 2008 will impact sales and gross margins in the first half of 2009.
Via twitter I've heard that phone calls to reps on this issue are slowing down. Pin It
