In an ill-informed effort to make childrens products safer for consumers, the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) requires that anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used childrens items will be required to comply with the new law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal.
The new law will start requiring that each and every item intended for children under the age of 12 be tested for lead and phthalates. The cost of the testing is outrageous for small business owners. To show an example of what the costs will rise to if forced to comply with the CPSIA, a number of shop owners at Etsy have posted CPSIA-compliant products for sale. Please look at these products.
FYI: For the proposed testing, each component will cost $70 for lead testing and an additional $350 per component for phthalates testing. That is REALLY for EACH component, not for an item. So, if you used thirteen buttons on a shirt, you would pay these amounts per button. No kidding. This is in addition to the testing the big manufacturers have already done. Double-dipping? Double taxation? Hmmmm...
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