Anyone heard about Save The Hand-Made Toys? (sale, renting)

[notdancingqueen]

I was reading about a hastily-passed (no way!) piece of federal legislation on some of the crafting blogs I follow. I checked the League of NH Craftsmen website and was surprised to see...nothing.

Anyone heard abything about this? It's implications are far and wide -- would make sale and resale of any new or used childrens' item "contraband" unless it was tested for lead (which sounds quite sensible, except, of course, the devil is in the details... see an excerpt of some of the unintended consequences below... With New Hampshire's excellent emphasis on Buy Local and my own interest in hand-made toys and consignment stores, this law could really suck.

***
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.





For small toymakers and manufacturers of children's products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.



A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 - $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 cloth diapers to sell online 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 toy makers 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.

More info here... and here

[nicolem]

I have heard about it. Leave it to our government to do something like this instead of banning all the lead crap from China and actually having it inspected, etc. which I know will not be done. Once again harm American made and help out foreign crap imports. I think it is terrible.

[WannaComeHome]

Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

and yet, they still have 'most favored nation' status! It would be so much easier to say 'anyone who imports anything from China has to go through all this crap.' but so much does, they don't want to do THAT. just bother everyone else because of it.

[maestramommy]

This issue has been making the rounds on various parenting forums. Many parents are quite upset because they buy alternative toys from small companies that will likely be put out of business due to the new legislation

[jthibodeau]

I swear there must be something causing a low oxygen count in the elected officials offices. Maybe the fresh air intake for their heat and A/C originates from the underground parking garage. There must be something to account for the stupidity. What else can explain it? And, why doesn't it show up during the election process?

[notdancingqueen]

This is the kind of thing that WILL get fixed...eventually. The question is how much damage is done in the meantime. As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

[CometVoyager]

Originally Posted by notdancingqueen

I was reading about a hastily-passed (no way!) piece of federal legislation on some of the crafting blogs I follow. I checked the League of NH Craftsmen website and was surprised to see...nothing.

Anyone heard abything about this? It's implications are far and wide -- would make sale and resale of any new or used childrens' item "contraband" unless it was tested for lead (which sounds quite sensible, except, of course, the devil is in the details... see an excerpt of some of the unintended consequences below... With New Hampshire's excellent emphasis on Buy Local and my own interest in hand-made toys and consignment stores, this law could really suck.

***
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small toymakers and manufacturers of children's products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.
A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 - $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA. work at home mom in Minnesota who makes cloth diapers to sell online 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 toy makers 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. More info here... and here

I bought many toy's with the brand name "Tatiri"! They are designed in Italy and manufactured in the Philippines. Here is there web site!

Welcome to Tatiri