Luris Blear
01-07-2009, 11:33 PM
Charities, entrepreneurs, and second-hand clothing stores about to feel the hurt.
When the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect on February 10, the only people capable of marketing to children under 12 may very well be Big Business.
Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing.
The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven't been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.Source & Full Story (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story)
This also means that organizations such as Goodwill who resell second hand clothes to less financially stable families will very possibly not be able to continue this practice.
I also feel concern for those self-employed toy makers who are about to be hurt by this law.
Christine Stewart hopes she will be able to continue to make batches of Happy Fun Dough, a product she came up with after becoming a mother. "I didn't want them [her children] to put chemicals in their mouth," Stewart said.
With the legal changes, the two stay-at-home-moms are worried.
Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act all children's products must be tested for lead and other harmful substances.
Toymakers are required to pay a third-party lab for the testing and put tracking labels on all toys to show when and where they were made.
While larger companies may be able to afford the testing, Stewart said, at a cost of $1,500-$4,000 to test one batch, she can't. "[One batch] isn't even $4,000 worth of product," she explained.Source & Full Story (http://cbs11tv.com/consumer/toymakers.toy.law.2.900667.html)
Now, I love big business. I love Wal-Mart. I love this idea that people can turn an idea or raw ambition into a world-changing force that delivers goods and services to meet peoples' needs.
Those ideas can never become the next Wal-Mart, the next Ben & Jerry, or the next success story if we are so afraid of everything as to take this level of ridiculous measures.
I have ranted quite heavily about this issue of Pthalates in the past. Now it appears that the small manufacturers of ecologically friendly toys will need to have every batch of every unique product line tested for them.
And lead? In clothing? When has this been a concern? What the hell is going on here?
There are driven people who provide wanted or even needed goods to consumers. Be it organic toys or used clothing, a positive spirit is producing positive results. These are the kinds of people that our world needs to be thankful for. These are the people we are hurting the most.
The pthalates law has just hurt all the wrong people - entrepreneurs that nearly everyone can get behind. This law has - unjustly - given terrible advantages to another group of people. I appreciate big business but very strongly oppose a law to help them thrive artificially.
The lead scare has rained punishment - unjustly - on good people who do not deserve punishment.
This is not good.
When the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect on February 10, the only people capable of marketing to children under 12 may very well be Big Business.
Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing.
The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven't been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.Source & Full Story (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story)
This also means that organizations such as Goodwill who resell second hand clothes to less financially stable families will very possibly not be able to continue this practice.
I also feel concern for those self-employed toy makers who are about to be hurt by this law.
Christine Stewart hopes she will be able to continue to make batches of Happy Fun Dough, a product she came up with after becoming a mother. "I didn't want them [her children] to put chemicals in their mouth," Stewart said.
With the legal changes, the two stay-at-home-moms are worried.
Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act all children's products must be tested for lead and other harmful substances.
Toymakers are required to pay a third-party lab for the testing and put tracking labels on all toys to show when and where they were made.
While larger companies may be able to afford the testing, Stewart said, at a cost of $1,500-$4,000 to test one batch, she can't. "[One batch] isn't even $4,000 worth of product," she explained.Source & Full Story (http://cbs11tv.com/consumer/toymakers.toy.law.2.900667.html)
Now, I love big business. I love Wal-Mart. I love this idea that people can turn an idea or raw ambition into a world-changing force that delivers goods and services to meet peoples' needs.
Those ideas can never become the next Wal-Mart, the next Ben & Jerry, or the next success story if we are so afraid of everything as to take this level of ridiculous measures.
I have ranted quite heavily about this issue of Pthalates in the past. Now it appears that the small manufacturers of ecologically friendly toys will need to have every batch of every unique product line tested for them.
And lead? In clothing? When has this been a concern? What the hell is going on here?
There are driven people who provide wanted or even needed goods to consumers. Be it organic toys or used clothing, a positive spirit is producing positive results. These are the kinds of people that our world needs to be thankful for. These are the people we are hurting the most.
The pthalates law has just hurt all the wrong people - entrepreneurs that nearly everyone can get behind. This law has - unjustly - given terrible advantages to another group of people. I appreciate big business but very strongly oppose a law to help them thrive artificially.
The lead scare has rained punishment - unjustly - on good people who do not deserve punishment.
This is not good.