Toymakers fight complex new safety rules
Intended to keep toxic substances out of children's products, new CPSIA rules have snarled small manufacturers in red tape and confusion. What do you think of the CPSIA rules? (For earlier coverage, see "New law could wipe out handcrafted toy makers")
New law could wipe out handcrafted toy makers
From L. Edwards, Dallas, Texas I would say the effect of the new laws are so ironic that it's very hard to believe that the results are unintended.
These laws, while supposedly made in reaction to tainted toys from China, will totally wipe small businesses off the map (not just toymakers!), clearing out the competition for large corporations. Similar laws are being passed in the food industry as a result from tainted food. Mattel and other companies get a $2 million dollar slap on the wrist while mom and pop shops and farmers' markets get eradicated. And not only that, but at the exact same time as when the American consumer has shown the most interest in buying local, organic, homegrown, handmade.
I would definitely say that small businesses and the awareness they bring to their customers regarding health and safety probably are some of the main competitive concerns of mega-companies. I wish I could believe that this was merely inefficient lawmakers at work rather than something much more calculated, but given all the aligned circumstances here, I can't.
From Chance, Burlington, NJ I am glad to see CNN covering this issue, I just wish that it had been covering it sooner. The CPSIA changes the nature of consumer product safety, and because it was drafted with little thought to unintended consequences, it is causing far more harm than good.
The spate of recalls mentioned as the cause for this law were all for products that already violated lead-in-paint standards that have been in place for years. This new law is tied to unrealistic standards of total lead, regardless of whether it can be absorbed by human beings.
This law affects far more than the toy industry — it is affecting schools and libraries, and small craft businesses all over the country.
Hopefully the new chair of the commission will see the same problems that Commissioner Moore and Commissioner Nord saw, and will be able to convince congress to take another look.
Otherwise, we will see a steady stream of small businesses in the US going out of business, leaving the marketplace to the big companies that (right or wrong) everyone seems to blame for the problems…
Chance
From J. Galt, Denver, CO This law is part of an insidious assault on small business and the US free enterprise system. How much more will entrepreneurs tolerate before they go on strike?
From Em, sac, Ca Toys are tested, and big companies are the problem. It is the fault of big companies using cheap lead paints and they barely get punished, instead now small businesses (who's priority is to make sure their products are safe because they started making them for friends and their very own family) are going to be forced to find some way to correctly label products and spend extra money that the haven't made on testing (if we let it come to that, which I hope we keep fighting…we are a force to recon with).
These regs are ridiculous. .
From jm, chicago, il Thank you for writing this article. The CPSIA is an unfortunate law for many, including children. I know the article highlights toys but this includes ANYTHING made for children….clothing, socks, pens, bikes, BOOKS, etc. The law isn't about risk and it also alienates amazing products from the EU because it requires a completely different testing requirement that doesn't add any benefit and only increases the price of the product.
After months of trying to speak to someone in my Honorable elected officials office and receiving form letters in return, I decided to travel to Washington. I thought going to Senator Durbin's office would help but it didn’t and still doesn't. They told me, "you are right that the CPSIA imposes costs on businesses, and because of economies of scale it’s the smaller businesses that will feel these costs more acutely. This is part of a larger calculation that it’s worth the costs to shift from the old system of post-market
correction (once a dangerous product is out in the market and leads to sick kids, recalls, lawsuits, etc.) to a new system of pre-market testing and certification (instead of just assuming products are safe and paying the price for false assumptions)."
This sounds nice doesn't it but in reality many products are safe to begin with. My clothing already meets global standards that are far below the lead limits of the CPSIA (and I pay a price for that certification). They are essentially telling me just in case lead appeared by osmosis (which it can't) you need to redundantly test your product and you will feel the pain.
What a nightmare this has been, it is no wonder our country is in the state that it is.
From Dave M, Carlsbad, CA We are a small company designing and wholesaling toys for museums, zoos and aquariums. We do test at CPSC certified labs. Tests show No Detectable Lead and No Pthalates. We also pass all other safety tests. OK, Safe Toys Here.
First of Many Problems: We are competing in a world of Giants. We survive by offering innovative design at wholesale prices that can retail in the range of the Big Box Stores. So the CPSIA says we have to test at Certified labs. The cost of this new testing and tagging on a plush animal is about $2200. For Walmart producing say 1,000,000 of a single design this adds about 1 cent per item. The retail customer will hardly notice. For my firm, where a zoo may only want 1200 pc of a single design, this will add $1.84 per piece at my cost. We are now unable to compete. Thank You US Congress and your CPSC. *Note testing is on a production basis. That means you must test every time you go into production. Costs to the consumer will rise.
Another Example: say one of the George Washington museums wants a new custom designed George Washington doll. They will most likely want to buy small quantities at a time. With the CPSIA you can't take the risk of stocking the dolls and shipping in small lots. The law is so vague that the interpretations of any of the various components of the CPSIA could change and you might end up in violation. So the Museum would be forced to buy the entire production run at once. Not every small gift shop can afford that. The selection of products for the consumer now decreases.
Another Tiny Little Sticky Point: All those items on the shelves. Whether you are a US based manufacturer or a China based manufacturer. Whether you are a wholesaler, a retailer, a crafter, a school, or a thrift market; the penalties for the slightest infraction are SEVERE! That is unless $100,000 fines and Felonies don't bother you.
Now do a bit of research and see how many children have been adversely affected by lead and pthalates by one out of the billions of child oriented products produced.You may find the number to be very close to Zero.
Also, as long as we are testing toys. I think we should test all keys and key rings. I have personally witnessed thousands perhaps billions of babies putting keys into their mouths. And why not cookware? Our food is prepared on it and we eat our food thereby taking the potential poisons into our very bodies! And what about our Refrigerators and Ovens. Good Grief! The CPSC should assign each of us our very own sterile little bubble for a truly safe life!
Sorry started to rant…
Look this is a typical knee-jerk reactionary bit of legislation. Why not get some people who understand manufacturing and distribution to revise it?
From Rob Wilson, Ashland, MA Thank you for covering this very important story. At a time when the government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to save/create jobs and stimulate our economy, it doesn't make sense that it is imposing needless (and vague) but very strict and expensive requirements on businesses.
The purpose of this rule is assist consumers in returning products in the case of a recall. However, it is so broad it includes products that not only have never had a recall, they are unlikely to ever have a recall. Case in point, at the recent CPSC hearing they has a serious discussion about the practicability of permanently marking SOCKS! Now when was the last time there was a sock recall?
Additionally, of the proportionately few products that are recalled, the problem in getting the products back is not in the consumer identifying if their product is subject to the recall or not, it is in getting the word to them in the first place AND the consumer consenting to return the product.
Not only that, but many products have such a short life cycle (ie. bubble gum toys that are also subject to the law) that the toys are long ago disposed of before a recall would ever come about.
In our case, we sell small batches. The cost is prohibitive and will force us to eliminate many of our natural products from Europe. In the unlikely event of a recall, in most cases we could recall ALL of a given item for less than the cost of the permanent labeling.
However the law does not inherently allow for such flexibility (voluntary permanent labeling based on individual circumstances), and the CPSC does not seem willing to grant such flexibility, despite the repeated claims by Congress that the CPSC has all the flexibility in the world to make this law work properly.
While Congress and the CPSC dithers, American businesses are shrinking, closing, and moving production to China, the only place where you can produce in high enough quantities to make the economics of this law work.
And by the way, the title of this article refers to "toymakers." This law actually affects practically ALL children's products for children 12 and under, including school materials we rely on to educate our children.
From Johnson, Naperville IL Ofcouse the Toys need to be tested. Our children are more important than the profits toy companies make. I'm surprised to hear that they keep complaining about it costing so much … I bet they will transfer tose cost to the buyers and the buyers will willingly pay extra for safe products.
From Drew Bomhof, Lake Odessa Michigan More examples of our doomed capitalist system as it forges ahead with bubble wrap socialism.
My children will suffer the worst.
The American Dream has been wrestled from the hands of the people and demolished at the hands of our rule infested Government.
From David, Houston Texas This would be a great time to read Atlas Shrugged.In the name of "fairness" and "safety", we're killing the small business which is the lifeblood of this economy and country.I wonder if any of the current big toy companies would have ever been able to get off the ground if they had faced the CPSI Act.
From Sybil, Santa Rosa, CA. I have friends in the mid-west, long generation family farmers. They are of the opinion that the government is making an active effort to eliminate all forms of individually owned businesses so only big business is left.
This regulation adds fuel to that argument. Big business screws up, and We The People "demand" that our government do "Something" about it. So they pass a law aimed at making big powerful companies tow the line. But they totally lose focus of the fact that there are small, very small, businesses out there.
Or, they really do just want to get rid of them all.
The result in either case is that every time they pass a slew of strong laws supposedly to keep us safe from the Big Guys, what they do is give even MORE advantage to the Big Guys at the expense of the small guys.
I suggest that small companies just go under the radar. Perhaps it is time for a shadow economy that consists of individual people interacting with individual people based on reputation and cash value and start dealing with the problems created by The Big Guys by NOT BUYING from them.
From Drew Hession-Kunz, Boston, MA The concerns of small businesses affected by these new regulations and requirements are certainly very valid. As new, less expensive lead testing tools become available for small businesses though, that should solve at least some of these issues. I blog about this on my site, and encourage anyone interested in this topic to visit wwww.i-Nalysis.com/blog for some additional perspective.
= Drew Hession-Kunz,
co-founder and CEO, i-Nalysis
From Sarah Natividad, Tooele, UT CPSIA's requirements are 100 times worse than what this article makes them out to be. Not only do you have to test each product, you have to test each COMPONENT of each product. And you have to test them all AGAIN every time you get a new batch of supplies. I make handmade baby booties and CPSIA requires me to test each dye lot of yarn– well, every time I order yarn (about 6-8 times a year) I get a new dye lot of yarn from the manufacturer.
CPSIA requires the tests to be done by an accredited third-party lab. I've had some less expensive testing done and my baby booties have undetectable levels of lead. But because my testing was done by an environmental engineer instead of an accredited lab, it's not valid. I will have to have all these tests repeated, at TWENTY times the cost, every time I change dye lots of yarn. Needless to say, one round of that testing would exceed my annual revenue. But CPSIA isn't satisfied with me just proving "these are not the children's products you're looking for;" I have to have stacks and stacks of paperwork and bills to prove it with Science done by people in White Lab Coats. Anyone with the least bit of common sense in them (i.e. anyone NOT in government) can see that this is entirely unneeded to improve the safety of children.
I'm not Mattel or Hasbro. I'm just a mom making baby booties in my living room so that we can pay off my student loans, and even though I know my products are safe AND can prove it, I just can't afford compliance to so high and unrealistic a standard. So far there are over $4 BILLION in losses directly attributable to CPSIA (and not attributable to our down economy). Tell me again how it makes children better off to put their mom out of work?
Please, if you'd like more info and facts (not hype) about CPSIA, visit http://cpsc.gov and http://whatisthecpsia.com . The manufacturers, especially the small ones like myself, are not exaggerating when we say it'll bankrupt us!
Of course our children are more important than the profits toy companies make! That is not the issue!!! The issue is that because of CPSIA, the safe toys that small businesses make will no longer exist because handcrafters can't afford to make them. You can try to transfer the cost to the consumer but who can afford (or is willing) to pay $2,000+ for a sock doll?
This is not about Mattel and Hasbro and other big companies losing a little profit. This is just a blip in their budget. It is about grandmas and moms and pops and single mothers and stay at home moms, losing their income, when they have never produced a toy that would have been recalled in the first place.
But with the CPSIA, you will be left with nothing but the big companies who failed to keep the old standards. So what makes you think they will keep the new ones?! And then there won't be anyone else to fall back on for safe toys.