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Five steps you can take to save natural/handmade companies from the CPSC and CPSIA

By Jeremiah | December 11, 2008 | 12 comments / Comment now

Photo by altemark, shared via Flickr.

The word is out: The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has cast such a wide net that many small businesses and natural toy companies are threatened with financial ruin by testing requirements that need to be overhauled if they are to be applied to them at all. Livelihoods, work-at-home arrangements, and the availability of handmade and natural products for our children are at stake. Here are five things you can do today to help force Congress to address the mess they've made before the law goes into effect on February 10, 2009.

1. Familiarize yourself with needed reforms. The Handmade Toy Alliance has proposed the following reforms to the CPSIA:

Exempt toys made or imported in quantities under 5,000 per year by companies making or importing less than 50,000 total items per year, as well as toys made entirely in the U.S. and other countries with a strong safety regimen of their own (Canada, EU), and pair this with mandatory registration by companies and random auditing with stiff penalties (the way the EU does it).

Assume that natural materials (wood, wool, silk, bamboo, cotton, and uncoated textiles) and food-grade materials (wood finishes made from beeswax and certain oils) are lead- and phthalate-free, and don't require them to be tested.

Allow manufacturers to accept third-party test results for raw materials, and require company testing of products based on manufacturing levels rather than specific time frames.

Don't require batch labeling for small runs of products not made from molded plastic, and don't require manufacturing dates to be a part of any labeling, as small batch toys are costly to label in this way.

You can read their full proposal on the Handmade Toy Alliance's website.

2. Tell your local news outlets that this is a local story. Look up Etsy sellers in your city or town, then call your local TV station or newspaper, ask for a business reporter, and tell them that you could help them identify at least X number of sole proprietors in your community who are about to be driven out of business if the law isn't changed. If you have a locally-owned toy store that carries natural toys, mention this too - they'd be a great interview for the same story. Local news desks are overworked and understaffed; if you can connect the dots on a timely topic you will probably see a story.

3. Make some phone calls. Phone calls are better than form letters, and if you get the person on the phone you might actually get some useful information you can share with others through the grapevine. Here are four calls you should make:

Call your current U.S. Representative. Republicans and Democrats claim to care about nurturing small businesses, but new testing requirements encompass product areas highly unlikely to pose a risk for newly-banned chemicals. The new law needs to clearly articulate feasible and logical standards for small businesses and companies that already meet international (EU) standards.Tell them how you feel about what will happen to many of the SAHM, small businesses, and natural companies that are already doing their due diligence to ensure product safety. Find out if they've been voted out or are still in for the next session; if they'll be replaced, ask by whom and if you can contact them at the same number. You can find out who yours is and how to contact them here.

Call Nancy Nord. She's the acting head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and she needs to hear from you. To reach her, call 301-504-7923 and ask for her; if she's busy, leave a brief, polite, but firm message.

Call the CPSC ombudsman's office. The number is 888-531-9070.

Call your Senator. Tell them you aren't pleased with the way the House wrote this bill or the fact that the Senate passed it in its current form, and that it is in dire need of reform before it sinks small businesses under exorbitant testing costs for products that are made using natural materials. You can locate contact information for your Senator here. If they're being replaced, ask them how to get in touch with their successor.

4. Join the conversation. Find Twitterers discussing the matter by searching for the #CPSIA hashtag. Browse new blog posts about the CPSIA and point others to them by giving them a bump on whatever social sharing or bookmarking software you use. (Links for giving a bump to this article are at the foot of this post - if you like this info, help spread it around!)

5. Sign some petitions. We believe that petitions are among the least effective steps you can take - the less effort it takes to make your voice heard, the less seriously your effort is taken by those you hope to impact; and signature rates inevitably underrepresent the number of concerned citizens, often vastly so - but it can't hurt, so here's one petition and here's another.

Categories: activism, advocacy, CPSIA, CPSC, toys

1. Diana (Ladybug Limited) [12/11/08]

As an Etsy seller who will be affected, thank you so much for this great action list! I plan on linking it to my blogs!

2. Diana (Ladybug Limited) [12/11/08]

By the way, this doesn’t just affect toys. The legislation affects ALL products for children 12 and under: clothing, shoes, hair accessories… you name it!

3. Jeremiah [12/11/08]

I swear that’s what I said… I take it you think I’m not emphasizing that enough :)

4. Diana (Ladybug Limited) [12/12/08]

Oops, Jeremiah, I didn’t mean to imply that you had written this regarding toys only. It’s just that most are only thinking about toys and not all the other small businesses or crafters making children’s products-- I already had Cool Mom Picks correct that impression. Really, THANK YOU for highlighting this :)

5. Holli [12/12/08]

Does this affect cloth diapers too??? Oh no!

6. genie [12/12/08]

Could we please have a list of things that IS affected by this brilliant new law? Because honestly, the post did sound like it was just for toys… There’s an awful lot of moms out there sewing diapers and burp rags and…

Thanks for the great info on this!

7. Jess [12/12/08]

Speaking of testing, how did the lead testing go with all those toys a few months back? With Inspect-A-Toy, was it? I’ve been axiously awaiting the results--hope I didn’t miss it somewhere!

Thanks for the heads up on what we can do to help our small businesses… I’ll definitely be making some phone calls!

8. Jeremiah [12/14/08]

Jess, we had a less than stellar experience with Inspect-A-Toy. Suffice to say, we (finally) have our toys back, and no report on their status.

9. Kiley [12/15/08]

Endangered Whimsy has pictures of some of the products that will be affected by the law.

http://www.endangeredwhimsy.com/

10. Kathleen [12/16/08]

Thanks for publicizing this! Odd tho that the most active site on the web addressing this issue wasn’t mentioned. May I also suggest visiting the War Room for up to the minute updates and focused activism? http://tinyurl.com/5fhzbd .

There’s also National Bankruptcy Day
http://www.nationalbankruptcyday.com

11. Wacky Hermit [1/09/09]

Thanks for encouraging activism! May I also suggest joining in the mail-in CPSIA protest? Info here: http://organicbabyfarm.blogspot.com/2009/01/join-cpsia-mail-in-protest.html

12. samiam [1/27/09]

I believe that the CPSIA legislation by Rush and Waxman as it is written needs serious changes and/or amendments.

It is open for comment right now with a Feb 10, 2009 implementation date.

Based on my reading of this legislation, the point is a good one, but implementation of this “feel good” law could devastate small and micro businesses.

From what I understand, all end users must test all components they use in products they sell for children under the age of 12 years old. Many micro and home business owners produce one of a kind and small runs of products to be distributed to targeted markets. Most of the tests are expensive and some are destructive. Many of the components they use are inherently lead and phthalate free.

On it’s face this law seems reasonable. We ALL want our children to be protected. However, when one looks closer one will see that this is a nightmare of expensive, duplicate testing of products that should already comply before these products hit the distribution chain.

As a specific example, a micro business of a husband and wife who use commercially available yarn, ribbon, wood and paint to make home decor items for children’s rooms would soon have to test those products even though those products contain no lead or phthalates. Why should the overly burdensome requirement of duplicate testings be put on end users?

Since many micro businesses already produce safe toys and other products in direct response to dangerous imports from China and India it seems that this legislation needs to target large manufacturers and importers, not end users of components.

***Those manufacturers and importers should be responsible for compliance BEFORE their products hit the distribution chain in the US.***

As a further example, if one company makes yarn and that yarn is distributed to craft stores such as Michael’s or Hobby Lobby why should the 10,000 end users each be responsible for testing that yarn when yarn already contains no lead or phthalates.

Honestly, this law is poorly written and needs to be amended to make sense in the real world.

Even libraries and schools are concerned because the language of this law seems to indicate that books would need to be tested. That is completely unreasonable.

Thrift stores and places like Goodwill Industries would also be adversely affected. Many families rely on aftermarket outlets like thrift stores to purchase gently used clothes and toys. The loss of that resource could be devastating for families.

With so many already losing their jobs, it seems to be counterproductive to put small and micro and home businesses out of business because of a poorly written law which should have been aimed directly at manufacturers and importers.

***By the time products reach the distribution chain they should already comply and end users should be able to use those products in good faith. ***

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