Please Help Change This Law

A new law has been passed that will shut down the GreenSeam business unless it is amended or appealed. The CPSIA (consumer product safety improvement act) law requires all products sold in the US intended for children 12 and under to undergo finished product lead testing. The testing is so expensive that all crafters and most small businesses will not be able to comply. For big companies, the huge cost burden will drive up the cost of children's products. The law was drafted in reaction to the Chinese lead-tainted toys, which is a great idea in theory, but the law as written has not been well thought out. For example, US or EU manufacturers who source their raw materials from their respective countries will be performing redundant testing since all the supplies sold in these countries are already tested for lead. For GreenSeam, it doesn't matter that the onesie and the paints have lead-free certification, the finished product must be tested. Not just one, but each size, each style, and each new batch of raw materials.

A big gray area is whether this law applies to used products. There is some talk that no baby/child items will be allowed to be donated to charity. Secondhand stores may have to shut down and eBay and Craigslist will no longer be able to carry baby/kids items.

The law goes into effect February 10, and there is no grandfather clause. All baby/kids items on shelves in US retailers will have to be recalled, even books.

I admit I haven't read the entire law and much of what I state in this post is rumor. If you Google CPSIA law you will find tons of major news articles about the law. Virtually all say it was poorly written. You can help fight this law, as is, by going to Obama's page and "vote up". Click here to access it. The more responses, the more likely Obama will review the law before it goes into effect.

Another major problem with the law: it is intended to police foreign imports mainly from China. Products must be tested in the country of manufacture meaning if a US company manufactures in China, the company has to pay a Chinese testing lab huge amounts of money keeping more US dollars in China. In the US, there are very few labs capable of doing this testing which will likely result in huge lead times for US manufactured goods. You don't need to know much about doing business in China to know it is very corrupt. It is so obvious that shady Chinese companies will simply pay a bribe for a fake lead-free certificate.

I intentionally try to not bash China or get political on this blog, but I had to speak up on this law. I encourage all of my readers to Google the CPSIA and read some of the articles about it.

Thank you for your support.

amy