Posted on 03/05/2009 8:09:11 AM PST by reaganaut1
Makers of children's products and charities that run second-hand shops are stuck with more than $1 billion of inventory they can't sell because of a new federal product-safety law, according to surveys by trade groups and the charities.
The goods, which have -- or are suspected of having -- illegal levels of lead or plastic-softening chemicals called phthalates, include everything from beach balls to second-hand clothes to brand-new all-terrain vehicles for children. The goods -- piled up in warehouses and storerooms -- will have to be incinerated or dumped, resulting in write-offs and disposal costs that the suppliers say they can ill afford.
In some cases, retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Toys "R" Us Inc. have told suppliers to take back goods already shipped unless the products are tested and certified as meeting the tough new standards mandated by the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, which took effect Feb. 10. Lead is a well-established neurological toxin, and phthalates have been linked to developmental disorders.
Suppliers and retailers say they hadn't expected the law to apply to some products made before Feb. 10, based on a legal interpretation by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. But a federal court ruling last month, in response to a challenge by consumer groups, found that interpretation wasn't valid.
"We have millions of dollars worth of merchandise sitting in 30 40-foot-long trailers waiting to be hauled out to a landfill somewhere," says Michael Klein, president of Constructive Playthings Inc., a closely held Missouri toy maker. The banned products include beach balls, inflatable toy guitars and blow-up palm trees.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
President Obama could score a lot of points by issuing an executive order barring enforcement of this idiotic law.
Mixed feelings.
Personally I think we would be a lot better off making things here where we have better control at the start of the process rather than the end.
What a damn shame.
What’s the world coming to when the Chinese can’t poison our children and pets.
The toy makers should instead come out and advocate using toxics in toys, indeed more potent ones; claiming that they would just be performing abortions that were missed earlier. I think that’s a line of reasoning that would resonate better with this administration.
Ah yes. The left destroying free enterprise. Er I mean, environmentalists safeguarding our chirrun!
I think many who push these laws know exactly what the consequences will be.
Leftists HATE private charity. They don’t control what gets donated or who it benefits.
Not to mention all the people in the US that hand-make children’s goods. There’s been a lot of discussion among some craft-types about how far reaching this ill-planned law goes.
I didn’t click the link and read the whole article, but did it mention the fact that many children’s books printed between 1950 and 1985 must be subjected to extensive and costly testing (around $300 to $600 PER BOOK) before they can be handled by children under the age of 12? As a result of this provision, many local libraries (and even school libraries) will have to dispose of most of their children’s books and/or ban children under the age of 12 from the library.
That is the key. These are man-made threats, that is they have been made illegal and not because they are truly toxic or pose a real threat, but because our lawmakers have deemed it so.
Dose makes the poison.
This is the continued destruction of our free market system by government.
What is communism? The CPSC is run by 3 people. 3 people decide for 300 million.
That is communism. Thank Nixon, though, the CPSC came with his administration. We've been rolling down hill towards the gutter for a long time.
This is the reason we don’t make these things here. Too much unnecessary regulation.
If only the Constitution had Congress meet once every 2 years, then we’d be only half as bad off as today.
They’ve systematically driven American businesses off shore. Obama is just accelerating the process.
You don’t need to read all that old knowledge. You and your children will read the “modern classics”, only.
Just make the damned toys here in the states and charge an extra buck for them. People will pay it.
And that is a big reason for the "charity gap" between liberals and conservatives - it lets government off the hook
Another example of how the government screws up everything it touches.
That is the nature of government regulation - destructive, collusive and wrong.
What is necessary regulation? Can you be specific? I am just curious about your opinion.
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