On a serious note - Vintage and The CPSIA

For those of you who haven't heard (and they've kept it quiet - so don't feel bad) on Feb. 10th 2009, a law will be passed that requires all products intended for use by children under the age of 12 to be tested for lead.

Great! More safety for our kids!

Um. No.

The cost of this testing is outrageously high, and items sent in for testing are destroyed in the process. Which means that not only can we say bye bye to all our favourite handmade toymakers - we can't sell our hard to find vintage toys anymore.

Now I don't sell them - but I buy them. I want my daughter to have a Kermit the Frog puppet, a Little Tikes original doll house, a cabbage patch doll. All the simple toys that I played with and loved. She doesn't need Made in China carp - I've seen the factories these toys are made in first hand, met the workers, and it's NOT cool. Anyone who wants an idea of what it's like - watch Walmart: The High Cost Of Low Price you can even get it on Netflix.

The human rights situation in China is a whole different issue - but by supporting the new law you'll be supporting China, because the only companies that'll be able to afford the new testing are the be multinationals.

I am by no means an expert on this - but everyone needs to be aware of what is happening. On a purely selfish note - think of all the mothers who shop on Etsy for their children - they'll be gone. All the handmade children's shops (that also may shop at your shop) - gone. That's a lot of traffic knifed in one fell swoop.

Please, please, check out these links, read the forum threads, and write to whomever you can think of.

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5950540
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5960024
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5939104

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/faq.html#educational

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Please - think about this.