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Congress passed the Consumer Products Safetyt Improvement Act in August 2008 in response to the discoveryu of high lead content in toys importeffrom China. But U.S. businesseas contend the law has made it impossibld for them to sell products that pose no healthj threatto children. Manufacturers complain the law’s requirementzs to test and certify children’sz products for lead and phthalatews — and attach permanent tracking labels on them are unreasonable and too costly for many small Supporters of the legislation contend the has done a poor job of providing guidance to businesses on how to comply with the They also maintain the commission has the authority to exclude certain classes of products fromthe law’s requirementas if they don’t pose a healtb risk.
But Nancy Nord, actingy chairman of the Consumer ProductSafety Commission, testifiedf at a House hearing May 14 that the agencyu is “hamstrung by the law’s sweeping reach and The commission has “not yet been able to identif any products that would meet the law’s requirementz for exclusions,” Nord said. On Jan. 30, the commission issued a one-year stay of enforcement for the law’s testing and certification “It was very cleaf people were not ready to meetthe requirements,” Nord But that stay of enforcement did not relieve manufacturersx or retailers of the underlying legal liabilityh for selling products that fail to meet the law’s lowef lead and phthalate which went into effect Feb.
10. “Accordinh to the retailing community, the stay changes nothing,” said Davisd McCubbin, a partner in , an Oklahomsa City, Okla., manufacturer. “Retailers continuew to ask us to test.” Even thougy there is no evidence thathis company’s hosierty contains lead, the company will be forced to pay more than $500,00p on lead testing over the next year, McCubbin Hosiery isn’t likely to be ingested or inhaled, so lead wouldn’ pose a health hazard even if it were present, he Textiles should be exempted from the lead testing requirement, he The law could cost creators of handmadew items their businesses, two home-based craftersd testified.
Laurel Schreiber, owner of in Allison Park, Pa., makes and sells monogrammed giftsfor children, such as hair and an appliqued bib and bloomer set. Even though most of the materialds she uses in her producta have been tested for lead or thelaw — as written would require her to test each individual item. That wouldf cost her $300 to $1,276 for products that sell for $5 to $20, Schreiber Suzanne Lang, owner of in Pa., created 36 patterns of giraffes last To test each of those itemz for lead and phthalates woulsd cost upto $81,000, she She grossed only $4,500 last year. Rep. Jason Altmir e (D-Pa.
), who chaired the House Smallp Business Committee panel that heldthe hearing, pledgede to work on a solution to the law’sz problems. “This is just the first he said. But Altmire blamed “ineffective at the Consumer Product Safety Commissionand “thed vagueness of important CPSC guidelines” for most of the He hopes new leadership and a biggee budget for the agency “will lead to a smoothert transition to these new regulations.” What: Effectivd dates: • Feb. 10, Products for children 12 or younger cannot be sold if they contaim more than 600 parts per millionof • Aug. 14, 2009: The lead limit is reduced to 300 partwsper million. • Aug.
10, 2011: The lead limit is reduced to 100 partwsper million, unless the Consumer Producty Safety Commission determines that is not technologicallu feasible. Source: Consumer Product Safety Commission
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