February 10th

In case you haven't heard on February 10th a new law comes into act, the CPSIA Law. This law means that ALL things sold primarily for children under the age of 12 must be tested for lead and phthalates.

By testing these items they will be destroyed. This process also cost thousands, yes I said thousands, of dollars. For example there was an Etsy site that had a bib for sale that cost over $4,000 just to prove the point that NO small business is going to survive. That means if you love Etsy or handmade children's clothes or even the sweet little hats the old ladies make for the newborns in the hospitals, you can say bye to all of that after Feb 10th. The only people that will make it are the large manufacturers and they are ones that supposedly the law was meant to stop. The law that was passed almost unanimously voted on and I mean only a handful were against it, like 4.

This is very sad to me. Not only will I not be able to continue making the baby products that I make, but in the future I, or anyone else, will not even be able to give them away for FREE!! So what does that mean!? Can I make my own kids stuff? I don't know. The law is so vague that NO ONE knows what falls under the law and what doesn't. As it is written right now, everything is included even things labeled organic. All clothing, toys, hair bows, ANYTHING!! This also means that thrift stores and consignment are not totally out of the clear like they wanted everyone to believe from the note they posted the other week. These places are not responsible to test the items, but they are not suppose to sell items that are high in lead content. What?! Like the thrift store volunteers are going to know! This means what in the world are we going to do with all of our old baby stuff?! What are people that can't afford brand new going to do?

This is a hard concept to grasp because in a bad economic time the government just made everything worse! Small business are going to go under and people that need to buy second hand are going to have to spend money they don't have to buy at large chain stores. I just pray that Obama or however is in charge of amending this bill will do so before it is too late. Luckily I still have some items I can make and I am adding a few new ones, but I love the bibs and burp cloths and will making them. I also love to buy and sell used items.

For more info and a good article check this one out, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html.