If you have children, are expecting, or have grandkids, then I am assuming most, if not all of you, either buy items (clothes, toys, etc) for your kids that are used on eBay, at consignment sales/stores, Goodwill, or garage/yard sales. Many of you may sell your used items from your kids at the same type of places. You also may donate your kid’s used items to Goodwill or some other charity for a tax write-off. Some of you may even be crafty enough to make clothes, toys or accessories, and you sell them. If any of this describes you, please read on.
I wanted to make you aware of a new law going into effect on February 10, 2009 called CPSIA (Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act). The intent of this act seems to be to protect our children from such chemicals as lead and phthalates by forbidding the sale of any item for use by a child (under the age of 13) that has not been certified as tested for these chemicals. That is indeed a worthy cause, and I know that many of us have been affected by the recalls on items from China with lead in them. However, it appears that you will no longer be able to place any children’s item, new or used, into the “stream of commerce” unless you can prove that they’ve been tested for lead and phthalates. This is not a cheap test, and each part of each item (for example the buttons and the cloth of a shirt) must be tested. This would mean no sale of children’s items on eBay, Craigslist, yard sales, consignment sales, consignment stores, etc unless there is documentation of this test. I don’t know about you, but my child would be naked without used clothes from these places. She also has several toys that I have purchased used. I am estimating that my budget for clothing my child would quadruple if I couldn’t buy consignment or used items. I can’t believe that with the economy being like it is, we will have to pay so much more to clothe our children in brand new clothes while perfectly good clothes are treated like toxic waste—some of them not even worn because of the way that children grow!
There have been rumors that either the CPSIA will be amended to not apply to third party sales (like consignment) or that it will not be enforced to apply with third party sales. However, there has been no official announcement of such a change, and there has been no mention that I can find to protect entrepreneurs who make items for children to sell or small store owners. There is a big different between the mom-and-pop consignment store around the corner and Walmart when it comes to this testing.
I found much of my information on CPSIA at baby cheapskate, a blog I follow—you can find it at http://babycheapskate.blogspot.com/2009/01/end-of-kiddie-consignment-shops.html. She has several links on her page. There looks like there will be updates later today. I have checked this out on www.snopes.com and it appears that this is not a rumor. You can also check out the actual law online by googling it—I have done all of this before using your precious time.
What can you do? Please contact (call or email) your U.S. senators, your U.S. representative, and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and let them know how this law impacts you. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is who will enforce the law. All of these groups have websites with comment and question areas for you to use. There isn’t much more time before this law will be in effect. Let these officials know that you are worried about your children and their safety—but it will impact our children’s wellbeing if we can’t afford to clothe them, too! Thanks for reading a long message. Please use your right to contact those who represent you! Please pass this on!
