18 December 2008

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.

6 comments:

  1. It really is totally unacceptable. More love and care is put into the creation of handmade toys - what could be safer than that?! x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read about this last week...not happy about it!

    Good for you for posting this to spread the awareness.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have heard about this news too. I too buy handmade and vintage toys for my little nephews and nieces. I sure hope we could still buy handmade toys! >_<

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for posting about this. I don't think very many people realize the potential HUGE impact that the law will have if left as is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for publicizing this! May I also suggest visiting the War Room for up to the minute updates and focused activism? http://tinyurl.com/5fhzbd. My site is focusing on education and activism for producers of sewn products. There’s tons of solid information there from attorneys and scientists. You won’t find any mythinformation there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thought that it only applied to toys that are newly made? Is there a link that clarifies?

    ReplyDelete