Read the comments to this post at Volokh Conspiracy and see what I mean. "Nobody will enforce it, there has to be a way around it, if you don't find a way around it you're too dumb to be in business, it doesn't mean what it says, they'll have to take care of it, obviously this wasn't what the law was for so don't worry about it, this is just scare-mongering, try this loophole, that other loophole should work,blah, blah, blah."
Blah.
Sarah has had to deal with the same thing, of course, we all do, and she finds it frustrating, too. Let her explain why:
The second hardest thing I've had to deal with, though, is all the messages and tweets I've been getting from well-meaning people helpfully letting me know that they saw something in the Etsy forum or heard a rumor that anybody who makes things out of yarn is exempt from CPSIA. Here is some information that evidently got left out of the Etsy forum: yarn is only covered under the CPSC's stay of enforcement for third party testing, which expires Feb. 10, 2010. And I know for a fact my yarn is lead-free-- I had it tested by XRF by an environmental engineer. However, this testing doesn't meet the third party testing requirement, because it wasn't done by a certified lab-- those tests I can't afford. On August 14, I (and everybody else who's trusted in the CPSC's stay to protect them) become fair game for any of the 50 state Attorneys General plus any plaintiff's lawyers, who DO NOT have to follow CPSC's stay of enforcement.
That is why I'm going out of business now. The CPSC's stay of enforcement only protects me from CPSC action. It does not protect me from everybody else's lawyers. They can sue me for violating the third party testing requirement, even though my booties are lead-free. It only takes one to ruin my life. I don't think it's likely they'd come after me, but I just can't take the chance. I have a family to think of; losing all our assets (which is what a lawsuit would mean) could be strain enough to break it up. Not only that, but if I sell things wholesale that don't meet the letter of CPSIA law, stay or no stay, I'm putting all my retailers and distributors at risk too. THEY can be sued by any of these same lawyers for selling a noncompliant product, and if they get sued, so probably will I. My business model, which I've always thought was a good idea that enabled my booties to be on the Ellen DeGeneres show twice and to put together international wholesale orders, also puts me at exponentially more risk from CPSIA than the average retail crafter as well.
As for those who trust in the goodness of heart of the sharks working at US PIRG, NRDC, Public Citizen and others to protect them from lawsuits- good grief. Santa Claus is dead, people, and there never was an Easter Bunny. Have you not seen the venomous lies these people spew about those of us who are opposed to the CPSIA as written?
Sigh. No, I guess you haven't, since you (that's generic) have just heard of it. But I think this 'they won't come after you' line of argument makes me gnash my teeth the most. Pin It
