I just copied and pasted this from http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/ . This is really important--if you have not already heard about it, please read! This law affects not only toys, but any product that could be handled by children, including clothing and textiles. It affects not only new items but used... items sold at garage sales and traded on freecycle, items donated to thrift stores and charities, etc. Check out the website above to see how you can help in trying to get this law changed! I don't want to be stuck having to buy my kids toys at Toys R Us!
2008 TO BE THE LAST CHRISTMAS WITH HANDMADE TOYS?
Local children’s retailers look to empty store shelves if new legislation stays as is
For most of the United States, the Christmas holiday season brings to mind buying toys for children. Millions of mothers and fathers have told their children the story of Santa Claus and his elves and how year-round they are working to make toys by hand for all good little girls and boys. This year the story isn't so cheery – Santa, his elves and thousands of other American toymakers and children’s stores around the country are on the brink of being put out of business by unfair and restrictive legislation in Washington DC.
The story doesn't begin at the North Pole. In 2007, media throughout the United States were broadcasting story after story about the recall of toys made for children that included dangerously high levels of lead or other chemicals or small parts that could easily detach and be swallowed by a child. Several of the world’s leading toy manufacturers were forced to recall tens of thousands of units of toys to ensure the safety of American children. Almost every problem toy recalled in 2007 was made in China.
To grant authority to the Consumer Products Safety Commission to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the USA, the United States Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.html) in August, 2008. CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toymakers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
Certainly the safety of children across the United States is of paramount concern to any toymaker or the owner of a store that sells children’s toys. However, the legislation as it is written, endangers the livelihood of thousands of American craftspeople, artisans and small business that make handmade toys across the United States. In many cases these business are generations old and employ artisans who have had their skills handed down to them by older artisans.
The Handmade Toy Alliance, a group of US based toy makers, European toy importers and specialty toy retailers formed recently to help smaller companies effected by this new legislation and is spearheading a letter writing campaign and online petition to effectively change the legislation to help save America’s toymakers and sellers so that Christmas 2008 isn’t the last holiday where children can enjoy a handmade toy made in the United States.
The group has several recommendations to the CPSC for how to help ensure the future of handmade toys in the states, including: deeming natural fibers such as wood, silk, cotton and wool and food grade finishes safe and exempt from testing, and exempting toy makers producing less than 5,000 units a year from the third-party testing and new batch labeling requirements or providing economic help to pay for testing.
To comply with the new guidelines large manufacturers making thousands of units of each toy will have to incur very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels. For small American toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business. As examples:
A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes dolls to sell at craft fairs must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import
And even the handful of larger toymakers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.
CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: toys made in the United States. The result, unless consumers of handmade goods and those that make and sell them and ensure that the law is modified handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
Check out this link too! http://shalomscottagehome.com/Assets/Special%20Graphics/save%20handmade_book.pdf
2008 TO BE THE LAST CHRISTMAS WITH HANDMADE TOYS?
Local children’s retailers look to empty store shelves if new legislation stays as is
For most of the United States, the Christmas holiday season brings to mind buying toys for children. Millions of mothers and fathers have told their children the story of Santa Claus and his elves and how year-round they are working to make toys by hand for all good little girls and boys. This year the story isn't so cheery – Santa, his elves and thousands of other American toymakers and children’s stores around the country are on the brink of being put out of business by unfair and restrictive legislation in Washington DC.
The story doesn't begin at the North Pole. In 2007, media throughout the United States were broadcasting story after story about the recall of toys made for children that included dangerously high levels of lead or other chemicals or small parts that could easily detach and be swallowed by a child. Several of the world’s leading toy manufacturers were forced to recall tens of thousands of units of toys to ensure the safety of American children. Almost every problem toy recalled in 2007 was made in China.
To grant authority to the Consumer Products Safety Commission to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the USA, the United States Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.html) in August, 2008. CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toymakers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
Certainly the safety of children across the United States is of paramount concern to any toymaker or the owner of a store that sells children’s toys. However, the legislation as it is written, endangers the livelihood of thousands of American craftspeople, artisans and small business that make handmade toys across the United States. In many cases these business are generations old and employ artisans who have had their skills handed down to them by older artisans.
The Handmade Toy Alliance, a group of US based toy makers, European toy importers and specialty toy retailers formed recently to help smaller companies effected by this new legislation and is spearheading a letter writing campaign and online petition to effectively change the legislation to help save America’s toymakers and sellers so that Christmas 2008 isn’t the last holiday where children can enjoy a handmade toy made in the United States.
The group has several recommendations to the CPSC for how to help ensure the future of handmade toys in the states, including: deeming natural fibers such as wood, silk, cotton and wool and food grade finishes safe and exempt from testing, and exempting toy makers producing less than 5,000 units a year from the third-party testing and new batch labeling requirements or providing economic help to pay for testing.
To comply with the new guidelines large manufacturers making thousands of units of each toy will have to incur very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels. For small American toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business. As examples:
A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes dolls to sell at craft fairs must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import
And even the handful of larger toymakers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.
CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: toys made in the United States. The result, unless consumers of handmade goods and those that make and sell them and ensure that the law is modified handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
Check out this link too! http://shalomscottagehome.com/Assets/Special%20Graphics/save%20handmade_book.pdf
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