Save U.S. handmade toys & safe European toys
Laura
If you don't already know, there is a new rule about to be implemented
unless we all speak up! Don't let the government prevent us from
having access to safe toys, carriers and clothes for our children and
put countless small American toy and baby product makers out of
business. Many safe European toy companies such as Selecta and Kathe
Kruse have already begun to make plans to stop selling their toys in
the U.S. Don't allow the big toy companies to dominate the market with
all their Chinese made toys. Please if you care about the products
that we have available to us then read the following information,
spread the word NOW, and contact your Representative and
Congressperson. Don't don't wait this needs to be done immediately as
they are meeting to finalize this week.
Help Save Handmade Toys in the USA from the CPSIA
The issue:
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)
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.htmlin 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 American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the
costs of mandatroy 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 $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 dolls to sell at craft
fairs 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.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned
and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe.
The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no
longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers
market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole
prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and Senator
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm to
request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample
letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and
Senator here.
unless we all speak up! Don't let the government prevent us from
having access to safe toys, carriers and clothes for our children and
put countless small American toy and baby product makers out of
business. Many safe European toy companies such as Selecta and Kathe
Kruse have already begun to make plans to stop selling their toys in
the U.S. Don't allow the big toy companies to dominate the market with
all their Chinese made toys. Please if you care about the products
that we have available to us then read the following information,
spread the word NOW, and contact your Representative and
Congressperson. Don't don't wait this needs to be done immediately as
they are meeting to finalize this week.
Help Save Handmade Toys in the USA from the CPSIA
The issue:
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)
http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.htmlin 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 American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the
costs of mandatroy 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 $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 dolls to sell at craft
fairs 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.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned
and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe.
The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no
longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers
market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole
prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and Senator
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm to
request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys. Use our sample
letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and
Senator here.
Sandra Dodd
This is not good for this list:
-=-If you don't already know, there is a new rule about to be
implemented
unless we all speak up! Don't let the government prevent us from
having access to safe toys, carriers and clothes for our children and
put countless small American toy and baby product makers out of
business.-=-
I'd appreciate it if it's not discussed here. It's not about my
belief in toys or imports or government, it's about my belief about
keeping this list on the topic of unschooling. Occasionally we stray
a little bit, naturally, but this is a huge leap into political
action and this is not that kind of list.
Sandra the listowner
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
-=-If you don't already know, there is a new rule about to be
implemented
unless we all speak up! Don't let the government prevent us from
having access to safe toys, carriers and clothes for our children and
put countless small American toy and baby product makers out of
business.-=-
I'd appreciate it if it's not discussed here. It's not about my
belief in toys or imports or government, it's about my belief about
keeping this list on the topic of unschooling. Occasionally we stray
a little bit, naturally, but this is a huge leap into political
action and this is not that kind of list.
Sandra the listowner
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Laura
--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
wasn't trying to spam the list with political issues, I am just
worried for the safety of our kids, as well as for many unschooling
families who have these types of businesses in their homes thus
allowing for them to continue keeping their kids at home.
I'm very sorry and won't post again about it again:( Thanks for
clarifying here which is something I asked about in the email but
didn't see until now.
Laura
>Hi Sandra, I emailed you privately, but just wanted everyone to know I
> This is not good for this list:
wasn't trying to spam the list with political issues, I am just
worried for the safety of our kids, as well as for many unschooling
families who have these types of businesses in their homes thus
allowing for them to continue keeping their kids at home.
I'm very sorry and won't post again about it again:( Thanks for
clarifying here which is something I asked about in the email but
didn't see until now.
Laura