Save Handmade Toys!!
January 10th, 2009 | Published in News
Save Handmade Toys From the CPSIA
Are you aware that Congress has passed legislation (HR4040) that threatens the existence of handmade natural children’s items? Because of the plethora of toxic Chinese imports that made it into the hands of our children, Congress 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.
Congress simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public’s trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US. Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let’s amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive! Please visit the handmadetoyalliance.org and let your voice be heard!