Crying CPSIA Nubbin (but with good news!)

I originally made this sad little Nubbin to dedicate it to the CPSIA...

...But that was before I heard about the most recent news from Etsy!

"We are so excited to announce that the Commission has voted for a "Stay of Enforcement of Certain Testing and Certification Requirements of CPSIA" — which means that they are proposing a 1 year suspension of the burden of lead testing and certification while they take more time to review the rules and plan enforcement! " Read the rest on Etsy's blog, "The Storque"

Finally, some truly good news! Hopefully, a year should be plenty for them to realize how ludicrously broad this law was, and to amend, rewrite, or repeal it!

We need to do something about the CPSIA!

Hi Needlers,

I found a few links with Widgets that everyone can put on their Blogs to help save our darling handmade toys from the Consumer Products Safety Improvements Act. The law was passed in reaction to the big toy makers toxic and deadly toys, and their cheap-ass manufacturing techniques. The act did not exclude handmade toys and will require us to get them safety tested @ $4000 per toy! 

 We have got to do something!

Here are the links- 

Save Handmade Toys Widget from Cool Mom Picks

 

and this Widget goes directly to a petition at Change.org

Change.org

worried about US plush makers

Maybe I haven't been paying attention in the right places, but the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in the US just came to my attention. Basically, it will require lab certification that lead and phthalates are not present in toys or clothes. This is a good thing, I'm sure we can all agree. Except that I don't know of any small, independent toy-maker that can afford the $4000 per toy-line that the testing labs are charging. I guess whoever wrote the law forgot about all us little folk who make toys on a small scale to suplement their income.

Luckily, I'm Canadian so I could still sell toys to individuals in the US, although I couldn't sell toys wholesale to American shops without getting my toys certified. For any Americans who read or participate in the blog, I hope you check out the Handmade Toy Alliance for more information, and do what you can for all crafters in the US. Also, if you know of anywhere else with information on this, leave a link in the comments so we can all be more informed.