Those of you who contacted me when I pulled my Amazon listings (and you know who you are) to say I was over-reacting, explain this:
However, the well-intentioned legislation included a retroactive rule declaring untested items, regardless of lead content, as “banned hazardous products.” The Consumer Product Safety Commission then determined the law applies to children’s items already on shelves.
All of which leaves Austvold and company with few options. Books printed after 1985 are not affected, but thousands of classic children’s literature titles are. Is she following the law’s guidelines? “Absolutely,” Austvold said. “The fine is very substantial. I’m not going to take that risk.”
The CPSC permits the sale of these older books only if testing determines they are safe, but that’s not practical for used bookstores that buy inventory one piece at a time. A Wisconsin merchant estimated the cost of testing her used books at $100 to $400 each. What’s frustrating merchants is that nobody can cite an instance in the U.S. where a child was poisoned by lead from old book illustrations. And while babies and toddlers are certainly known to chew on whatever you give them, the law covers books written for seventh graders.
And then see if you can read this without feeling sick to your stomach:Congressman John Kline responded and said efforts are underway to change the law, but with the focus on larger budget issues he admitted it could be years before this gets another look.
In the meantime, some used book shops and thrift stores are destroying boxes of old titles. And they’re worried that before Congress enacts a fix, the law may destroy their business.
Commissioner Thomas Moore (tmoore@cpsc.gov; this guy is a disgrace to the original Thomas More) wrote to Rep. Dingell, you may recall, and expressed his disdain for those business owners who object to the fact that the CPSIA will, in fact, destroy their entire livelihood without making children safer, saying he was proud of it as it stood "despite the hue and cry of some in the business community
who will never be happy with the closer scrutiny and accountability required
by the Act..."
The owner of Chapter One Organics responds. Here's a small excerpt from her excellent letter:
The majority of us in the business community would like to see a smart law
that is focused on products that pose risks and the CPSIA is clearly not the
answer. We are seeing huge losses being reported by small and large
companies and it isn’t because their products are toxic, it is because the
law does not work.
It is astonishing to me that after six months of dealing with this, your
response to Representative Dingell’s questions didn’t even scratch the
surface of the issues regarding this law and instead seemed completely
politically driven. As a tax payer, I resent that you are unable to work as
a team with Ms. Nord. In the private sector we often have to work in
imperfect environments. If we don’t design, create, solve problems and
implement, we don’t produce products, money, or jobs.
Let me reassure you that I would not have spent the past four to five months
of my life and money to figure out why and how to comply with the CPSIA if I
were not accountable. We don’t mind complying with laws that work but the
CPSIA doesn’t work.
Here is a long list of links and data from the printing industry.
Ed Driscoll on the CPSIA (bonnet tip The Brothers Judd):
Here's a partial fix:The American Library Association (ALA) supports legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) yesterday to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit within the act. This is a welcome step toward ensuring libraries will not be adversely affected by the law.
This story outlines how different resale shops are taking different approaches to the law. There's also a list of the 'most wanted' recall items at the bottom of the story.
This is the always worth reading Walter Olson's take. Pin It
