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 havent 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 isnt 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 childrens clothes will have to be tested for lead and phthalates. Given that many such stores arent high-income operations - many are nonprofits - these shops simply cannot afford to do the testing on the childrens clothes on their shelves.
So what happens? Most thrift shops are currently not accepting any childrens clothing at all. Sometime in the next month or so, all thrift shops will have to clear all of their childrens clothing from the shelves and send them to the landfill. (Its 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 ...
This is one of my first posts here, but I felt it was worth pointing out. If anyone knows how to put the links in, please do.
Will the next step be Big Brother preventing “hand me downs”?
It looks like we will have more items on the black market.
Will this effect garage sales?
Oh. My. God.
I have three kids that almost all their clothes are yardsale and thrift store clothing. And if the clothes are priced higher for lead testing...
This is insane.
I have four kids I guess I’ll just have to break the law. I have boxes of kids cloths in the attic that I pass down from Kid to kid.
I think I just found a loophole.
Get a big ole stack of paper plates at your yard sale.
For every $2.00 paper plate you buy, you get a bundle of used clothes for FREE.
There, problem solved, haha
But it appears that big corps used the tainted products from China as an excuse to pass legislation that is designed to destroy small business and especially folks making craft-type items in their home and selling them online.
Does this law require that Hallmark (and others) send all birthday cards for 1-12 year olds out for tests, but not 13 and above. It really is a stupid piece of legislation.
Bad law not only doesn't help, it does damage.
So who voted for this and who voted against it?
Fear not. The Democrat Party will be happy to provide long-wearing and fashionable clothing to your children...
I suspect a fair bit of pragmatism may go into the enforcement of this law. Alternatively, it may get rigidly enforced until it eventually gets tested in court and a pragmatic judge declares the law unenforceable.
That’s what would happen here in New Zealand, I hope that’s what would happen in the US...?
Ours too!
One of the reasons we could afford to homeschool was the savings in clothing. They kids were satisfied to wear fewer clothes, and those clothes were most often from the local Goodwill. I could completely outfit a kid for sometimes less than $50 a year. ( Except for shoes that were from Payless and underwear).
The savings in clothing alone paid for the homeschooing expenses.
Personally....If lobbyists want to fight this, they should get the homeschooling crowd activated. All the homeschoolers I knew ( and currently know) are very dependent on the thrift stores.
I can't tell you all how much baby girl clothing we've received from very generous friends who were willing to part with it. I know I plan to give it away to another young couple in the future once our childbearing days are finished.
Yup, the govt that has mortgaged children into socialist oblivion doesn’t want them to wear uninspected clothes.
The revolution is coming, chillens.
Please, please, select me to be on Pelosi’s firing squad.
Just ignore it.
We’ve got new law overload. Not enough people to enforce most laws anyway.
Oh, the carefree days of “Little House on the Prairie” where the Ingles had everything they needed without government intervention (and were happy, healthy and wise). Bring those days back.
Remember all those reports from Lou Dobbs about China's use of lead in toys, etc.? I wonder if this law is a result from those reports? Regardless, it seems when we try to hold our government accountable to problems that arise, the solution these bozos come up with always costs us more than had we never complained.
Frankly, I am ashamed of this government (not of America). Everything they do is about controlling the masses and taking their hard-earned money (and that goes for both parties); not liberating them.
When will the American People "throw off" such bands of tyranny?
Arrowhead>>>----the Establishment--->
Thats what would happen here in New Zealand, I hope thats what would happen in the US...?
We no longer have pragmatic judges here. With our luck, the first judge who gets his hands on such a case will probably expand this silly law even further.
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