Have you seen this logo on some body's blog lately? Do you know what it's about? In short it's about the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act . Still lost? I'm sure most of you remember the Thomas the Tank Engine fiasco, or the Dora the Explora incident. Lead in the paint, clothes, jewelry, backpacks, ect.... ? Ringing some bells now? If your a parent I'm sure you know about all the past recalls. Do you know that congress has put together a law (the before mentioned Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act or CPSIA) to help make toys and other items meant for children 12 years and younger safe? This new law goes into effect in February 2009. Next month!!!
Still don't know what all of this means or how it effects you? How many of you buy anything from ETSY, or Ebay, CreatedbyMom.com, or a 2nd hand shop (Once Upon a Child is one of my favorite places), a craft fair, ect...? Do you have a favorite small toy company? How about that little boutique in town that sells local made dresses or hair bows that you love going into? The CPSIA will effect all of that. According to the new act all of these sorts of places won't be able to sell their goods without a lot of very expensive, very extensive third party testing and labeling. In short they will have to prove that they aren't selling you anything that contains toxins like phthalates and lead.
Being a part of a great SITStahood like the Secret is in the Sauce I've met some other great moms who craft things and sell them online. Like Kacee, at My Life as a Mom at 22, she's got a great boutique called Prissy Miss that she sells her beautiful hair accessories out of. Another great one is from the gals over at Bugs'n'bees. They have the most adorable clothes for little girls. Then of course there is myself. I am a vendor over at CreatedbyMom.com and have my own little website too. I make fabulous tutus under the name the Flower girls. If the law passed by the CPSIA goes into effect we will all have to stop selling our amazing products, unless we can afford the cost of testing.
What can you do? You can grab the bear button at the top of the post from here. You'll also find a lot of really great resources at that page. It's the Cool Mom Picks site- another great place to hang out online. You'll also see links to places like The Handmade Toy Alliance.
Sign petitions to amend this law, write your congress person. Blog about it. Talk about it. Help save handmade.
3 comments:
So many of our rules and laws are not well thought out. Like No child left behind. And this is one of them. Thank goodness it looks like there is a reprieve already:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lead7-2009jan07,0,6917858.story
I love etsy! Kat is right, not very well thought out. I will participate on my blog in an effort to help. Let's keep an eye on this.
I am totally backing this. Sometimes I wonder about the lawmakers' ability to consider cause/effect.
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