Posted on 01/04/2009 6:02:37 AM PST by Megben
Trent Hamm at thesimpledollar.com writes in his January 3 entry (excerpted) : "For those of you who haven’t heard the news yet, on February 10, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act comes into effect. One of the major changes that this program will bring into play is a mandate that everything sold for children 12 and younger will have to be tested for lead and phthalates, and anything that isn’t tested (or that fails) will be considered hazardous and cannot be sold. Read more about the CPSIA at the L.A. Times and some interesting blog commentary from the fashion industry. Where things get interesting is with used products. Consider your local resale and thrift shop. Currently, all of their secondhand children’s clothes will have to be tested for lead and phthalates. Given that many such stores aren’t high-income operations - many are nonprofits - these shops simply cannot afford to do the testing on the children’s clothes on their shelves.
So what happens? Most thrift shops are currently not accepting any children’s clothing at all. Sometime in the next month or so, all thrift shops will have to clear all of their children’s clothing from the shelves … and send them to the landfill. (It’s worth noting that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering a reprieve for products made from natural materials, which would exempt some clothes, but not nearly all clothes"
From reading the whole article, it appears that this will apply to used/new products that are sold at garage sales, thrift stores, ebay, etc. The discussion that follows the blog posts lists going to the sites of the National Bankruptcy Day or the Handmade Toy Alliance Site to write your congressman/woman.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesimpledollar.com ...
My local "fabric store" is WalMart -- so you tell me?????
Did that make sense?
All kidding aside, yes it does make sen in a scary, scary way.
Talk about an understatement!
JoAnn's wouldn't be ANY better...
BTW....I sent this link on to two friends, one of whom deals with a huge sewing list...so thanks much for the ping...
I’m known for my understatements :-).
The nearest JoAnn’s to me is nearly 100 miles and 2 states away, so I guess I’ll stick with WallyWorld, at least for as long as they keep fabrics :(
I’m glad the article was helpful to you. My husband went nuts when I told him about this.
I don’t get it. When we sew together fabric, thread, buttons, zippers, elastic, etc. why do those components suddenly become DEADLY for children, when separately, they’re already exposed to things like that and they are not considered deadly?
This is really so, so stupid. Grrrrr!
Among other things :-)
The poison is in the dose.............
Beats me, but it apparently worked for SHS, so I guess they're moving on to the next deadly thing "for the chillrun."
I have not had time to read all the posts yet but I can tell you that this law affects me greatly. I make and sell children’s clothing to supplement my family’s income. I also shop at second-hand stores. For me to test one of my items to sell would cost about $350, so for an outfit that I would retail at around $40 right now, I would have to sell for abou $500 just to make any money!
I’ve also read, and I can’t remember where, that this law is only for companies’ whose products are made in the U.S. This may be incorrect information, I don’t know.
I did contact the fabric companies I buy my fabric from and was told that they are no affected at all because their product is not intended for children.
I’m probably babbling, but this law has me so upset!!
I’m intending to reply to all but not sure if it’s working or not.
You’re not babbling and I don’t blame you for being upset.
Forget contacting the fabric companies, contact your congress critters. Then contact the fabric companies and tell them to contact THEIR congress critters.
Mersa?
Reading an article like this (and I have read several versions by now, all basically consistent) makes me want to go out and tear the airbags out of my cars, smash my motorcycle helmets, toss the trigger locks on my pistols, cancel my car insurance, refuse to take vaccinations, rip out the lo flow toilet (I already did), and spray paint smears toward China on WalMart.
Oh, believe me! I have contacted all my congressmen and senators and received very unhelpful form letters from all of them that dont’ even touch on what I said! The last one said, “I’m sure you agree this is for the best.” Uh, did you even read my letter?? lol probably not!
:)
We are feeding this parasitic intestinal worm of a government. People should just stop paying taxes.
The staph is susceptible to the antibiotic they prescribed. I am feeling a lot better.
I get to see the surgeon tomorrow.
Speaking of environmentalists, why aren't they having a screaming fit over this law? I apologize if someone else has already mentioned this, but can you say, landfill overfill? With potentially lead-tainted products? Seriously, the green people are so frantic about making sure we aren't wasteful, why don't they see that this new law is going to send millions and millions of items of perfectly usable children's clothes to the trash, and thus to the landfills. All of which will have been untested for lead. Thus seeping into our ground water and getting back into the children and adults anyway. Where are the environmentalists now?
That just put a scary thought into my head...how long will it be before we have to sign something before we purchase fabric or notions, the way we now have to sign for "OTC" meds with pseudoephedrine? What the hell are we coming to???
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