Posted on 01/09/2009 8:32:55 PM PST by christianhomeschoolmommaof3
Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing.
The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven't been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Here is a copy of the email I received alerting me to this.
I am forwarding this informtion sent by a friend regarding Congress signing a law that does not allow the resale or even donation of kids clothes, toys, etc. See details below. Here is a link to the story the LA times wrote about the issue:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story
It is possible, even likely at this point, that all children’s consignment sales and opportunities to recycle children’s items will be illegal as of February 10, 2009. Please read the below information, and take action if you feel led.
Last year, Congress quietly passed a law, HR 4040, dubbed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), with the intent of fixing the “toxic toy” problem. In theory, this is great. Unfortunately, the
wording is so broad (and RETROACTIVE, thus the problem with consigments and thrift shops) that the negative ramifications are far-reaching. The act requires expensive testing of every
component of every item that is designed for, or may reasonably be
anticipated to be used by, children under 12, and of every batch of
the resulting products. The regulations go into effect on February
10th, and most people don’t even know about them! If nothing is
changed, the following things will happen:
-You will no longer be able to sell your children’s toys, books, and
clothes at yard sales as they outgrow them, donate them to thrift
stores, put them on consignment, or give them away on freecycle
-Many thrift and consignment stores will go out of business. Some may
be able to continue operating without selling children’s products, but
these are a big draw for thrift stores.
-Artists who handcraft toys will go out of businesses.
-WAHM’s who make cloth diapers will go out of business.
-Seamstresses, knitters, etc. who make children’s clothing or bedding
will go out of business.
-Used bookstores will have to stop carrying children’s books.
-Ebay, and similar auction sites, will be greatly crippled.
-Out-of-print children’s books will no longer be available anywhere in
the U.S.
-Small manufacturers and retailers who already have stock, and thrift
stores, will have to dispose of tons of perfectly good product,
overloading the landfills and just generally being wasteful (not to
mention expensive).
-The big companies, like Mattel, who are notorious for providing
tainted toys imported from China, will probably just pay fines for
violations and go about business as usual.
All of this means that:
-Our children will be able to wear only clothing that we already own,
or that which is available at large retailers. Every bit of it will have to be purchased new, as consignment sales will be non-existant, and yard sales and thrift stores will no longer have anything available for sale.
-We will no longer be able to purchase quality, handmade toys of
natural materials, being left only with “corporate-giant” plastic
“junk” options. Many of these toys may still be unsafe, given the big
companies’ abilities to pay fines and keep going. Thus, we will no
longer have safe options.
The good news is, the Consumer Product Safety Commission does,
according to the law, have the authority to draft exemptions for
certain products, categories, etc. But they are demonstrating
themselves to be a bit clueless. Please take action on this! If they
exempt certain materials known to be generally safe (for instance,
cotton), this will not only help protect the small companies, it may
even encourage the larger ones to use higher-quality materials. Other
exemptions or adaptations would help small companies as well, such as
being able to test a fabric, and then use it for the manufacture of
ten different products, without having to test each one separately.
Talk to your Congressmen, talk to your local news, talk to the CPSC,
talk to your friends. But do something, because our entire economy and culture could be drastically different a month from now if we don’t do something.
If you wish to sign a petition, here is one site, and I’m sure there are others.
http://www.rallycongress.com/make-second-hand-kids-clothes-legal-/
Perfect timing with this economy. Brought to you by the Libs.
Ping...
Done and forwaded...
Just mark them “for 13 and up only”.
The Cat in The Hat becomes a powerful new figure in organized crime. Numerous arrests made as crates of “footy-jammies” are confiscated from a secret loading dock behind an abandoned warehouse.
Lead in American made consumer products has not been a problem for almost 40 years.
The only reason this has become a problem is because we are importing contaminated junk from China. Stop buying chinese junk and dispose of everything made in China is a better solution.
Penalizing good standing American business people is an outrage.
STOP BUYING CHINESE CRAP!
Why not just collect everything made in China? (and Mexican candy)
Amen to that!!!!
Better for impoverished children to go naked than to risk even the microscopic possibility of that old pair of jeans or t-shirt containing nearly unmeasurable traces of lead.
Don’t you just love liberals? You know - they are always passing laws “for the children”...
Look at all that gaming companies like EA are doing to try to stop the resale of used console games - what I am trying to say is I don’t think this is a mistake.
They large makers of such items appear to think that if used sales go away they will sell that many more of what they are selling.
I hope that is true but several other things will be affected as well. Small businesses who cant afford to have all their stock inspected will have to throw out everything made before February 9th. The retroactive language in the law needs to be taken out. Please sign and pass the message.
Your Tax Dollars AT Work:
The federal Government - Destroying America one small business at a time.
That is what my husband thought as well. The large retailers can afford to break the law and pay the fines and the little guy goes out of business. We should get this news out to all the environmentalist we know. At least we can all agree on this, to throw away good childrens clothes and toys is ridiculous.
The law of unintended consequences. Thanks Libs!
bookmark
I have a few - less than sane Green friends :) who will run with this that I just emailed this to.
They should spread it to hundreds by this time tomorrow.
A friend who passed around this information in her home school email loop just sent me word from a gal in MN who had contacted her senator... It sounds a little hopeful but it could be quite confusing to law enforcement if they don't hammer the wording out to specifically EXEMPT these cases. Let's hope they do but I'm still calling to let my voice be heard.
1) The Consumer Protection Agency is putting out a press release today EXEMPTING consignment shops/thrift stores/yard sales. (we will see what they actually say about this, but they don't have the "enforcement" to check all these places)
2) Books and cotton clothing will be exempt, except for those books that have small parts that come off, or the "puffy plastic type" books. There will be a list coming out of other exempt items.
3) They are really going to be looking at NEW toys/clothing at "box" type stores, like walmart, target, etc
I hope they will spell these exemptions out very clearly...
Yes and the only votes in the Senate against this were republicans:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2008-41
The puts many who sew for kids out of buisness. Evn buying fabric that has been tested once made has to be retested at a government lab and the tests aren’t cheap! No more Goodwill, Salvation Army or yard sales for anyone under the age of 12.
Not completely true. They will be allowed to sell what they have now but anything that comes in after Feb 10th will need to be tested.
The law is retroactive in my understanding. Can you provide a link.
Not completely true. They exempted what is on the shelves now in the thrift stores and also exempted cotton,silk and wool “natural” products meaning no dye allowed/ If the fabric has color it has to still be tested.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html is the press release. When the inquiry about what was considered natural I only have the info of the person who contacted them about what constituted “natural” to mean no dye.
Thank you for the updated info.
As other people have remarked, it isn’t really clear yet.
If there is any question at all most thrift businesses will not carry childrens’ clothing items due to fear of litigation/enforcement.
California is ranked #1 in population and 3rd in area, and the state’s bankrupt. Yet, liberals continue to ram their “progressive” ideology and policy forward.
I spoke with a family member whom is a state employee of California. Recently he, along with fellow employees, were notified that the state may be issuing IOU’s. He was serious.
If everyone ignores the rule and keeps selling the stuff, what are they going to do? government can’t even keep it’s own house clean. We need a good old fashioned rebellion to let them know we are sick of their ignorant regulations.
Just leave us alone. Andstop the chinese junk from coming in since CHINESE JUNK IS THE PROBLEM, NOT AMERICAN PRODUCTS.
Or better yet. Sue. Unconstitutional law..... something...
the left does it all the time.
Did you read this yet? Shaking my head again!
Ironically, stuff more than a few years old is more likely to be safe than the new, cheap imported crap. I always look for vintage toys that were made in the USA.
Rats. I just packed the car to the roof with good items for the Salvation Army. It’s sickening to take them to the dump instead.
PING
It seems they are saying that resellers don't have to have third party certification, but if they sell something with lead in it they can be prosecuted. That's sort of like saying go ahead and break the law if you want to risk it.
What I heard on the local news tonight is that the law was just changed to - get this - resale shops are exempt from testing, but if they sell anything with lead in it and get caught they will be prosecuted for selling illegal goods.
They will still have to shut down because they can’t risk a lawsuit.
Funny, I just posted that exact portion of their press release at 38.
Sorry, didn’t mean to step on your toes. I didn’t see it.
This is just STUPID! Eliminate all the junk from China & we'll be fine!
Are they safe? Did our government test them or are our kids being contaminated as we speak?
Also, when there is a natural disaster and they have a clothing drive, NO ONE can legally donate clothing! Sounds like they have painted themselves into a corner with this one!!!
In practical terms this probably means that the thrift shops will no longer sell any thing but clothing that is not synthetic. Paints and plastics are “basically” the only things that end up with lead in them and soft plastics are the just about the only thing with phthalates.
If the clothing is UNSAFE, then why are the big retailers selling them to us in the first place??? Talk about upside down logic!
No need to apologize I was just remarking on the coincidence. You’re not illegally tapping my mind are you? LOL.
No one said the clothing is unsafe. There was a big lead scare back last year I think it was and hastily crafted rules were put together in vague language with quick enactment dates. Just because some one shines a flash light it doesn't mean there's a monster in the shadows. Read my 44.
No need to apologize I was just remarking on the coincidence. You’re not illegally tapping my mind are you? LOL.
_________________
Naw, I think the Rats are engaged in that kind of stuff right now!
The local news interviewed some resale shop owners and they felt they would need to shut down because they are afraid of being sued. We are in Ohio and it’s not easy to operate a small business here as it is. Maybe that has something to do with it, I dunno.
I was glad you posted the details because I was too lazy to hunt them down!
Basically, big businesses gets to sell whatever they want because it is assumed that it is new, therefore safe for children... while secondhand stores must assume that it is all poisonous. Doesn’t make much sense does it?!
Maybe the retail stores or importers should be required to test all new items so that way it won’t matter when it is sold again or donated later on. Then any contaminated items would have a very difficult time making it to retail shelves. Remember Mattel toys? How many of those are still being donated to second hand stores or sold at yard sales? That’s not the fault of the secondhand stores.
Whatever chemicals are in acid dyes (used for both cellulose (cotton/rayon) and protein (wool/silk) that allow this penetration and bonding could be considered potentially dangerous/carcinogenic in their powder and liquid state, prior to bonding to the fibers. These dyes carry warnings demanded by the State of California to the effect that, in their powder state, they can be irritants. So-called *fiber reactive dyes* are labeled as containing a carcinogenic compound.
I have used both acid and fiber-reactive dyes for over 20 years on a production basis. I have used only natural fibers (wool/silk/cellulose-based rayon/cotton). I have had no ill effects even though I have occasionally inhaled small amounts of dry powder and inadvertently dyed the skin on my hands when a rubber glove failed. I am too concerned with the effects of the required mordants to even consider using natural dyes.
I think something similar would be operative in regards to wood stains, which penetrate and bond with the cellulose fibers, as opposed to wood paints, which sit on the surface. I know that basket makers regularly use fiber-reactive fabric dyes on rattan and wood slats. In these usages, I have noticed that the dye doesn't completely bond and can come off if moisture is present.
However, the pressure to relax these lead/plasticizers rulings in the name of common sense appears to be coming from the crunchy Green factions. Because of the political clout of this group of parents with Democrats, I think the rules will be relaxed quickly, especially as regards resale.
The above mentioned dyes and a large variety of fabric, clothing and accessories for children and adults in white cotton, silk, hemp and rayon, is available from a company in California named Dharma Trading. Anyone truly concerned can either purchase the undyed items and decorate them with modern dyes or purchase the fabric, then dye and sew their own. I see no problem from unpainted wood that has been sealed with beeswax or soy-based wax, which is what I see for sale from many wooden toy makers.
Note that there are two types of rayon. One is cellulose based and is considered a natural fiber. The other is acetate and is considered a synthetic. The acetate rayon is stiff, wrinkles easily and has a noticeable odor when wet. They can be distinguished by a burn test. Cellulose rayon fiber will smolder and smoke like a cotton candle wick, while an acetate fiber will melt and form a ball where it meets the flame. Do not try burn testing without taking adequate precautions, as acetate rayon fabric will flare up and burn quickly. Burn tests are typically performed on single fibers.
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