This might get the attention of congress. Children (babies and toddlers) are actually being harmed by this law. The CPSC has issued a recall notice for high chairs. Two children broke bones while several hundred chairs fell apart. I responded but my post has not yet gotten through moderation or they chose not to publish it.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2009/04/evenflo-recall-high-chairs-majestic-envision-cpsc.html

Paragraph 2 reads:

Remarkably, there were 320 reports of the seat backs failing on the Envision high chair and 140 for the Majestic (not including 16 from the earlier recall) before this recall took place. We wonder what took so long to recall these high chairs. Delays in recalling defective products leave unsuspecting consumers at risk — in this case, babies and toddlers. There have been well over 1,000 reports of screws, caps or fasteners falling out.

“We wonder what took so long”? My response was that we know exactly why it “took so long” for the recall to be issued.
The CPSC is swamped with questions and exemption petitions about the CPSIA and this got buried. They can’t do their job in processing accident reports. This is exactly the scenario that Ms Nord predicted would happen–Real problems being masked by poor legislation. Consumer’s Union should be on top of reforming this law and petitioning the president to appoint a third commissioner so they can do their job.

From a New York Times article October 2007:
She [Ms Nord] was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys, saying it was not practical. She said that the proposal to raise the potential penalty to $100 million “may have the undesired consequence of firms, as a precautionary measure, flooding the agency with virtually every consumer complaint and incident.” Her concern, she said, was that the increase in complaints would so overwhelm the commission that, “true safety issues would go unrecognized in the process.”

In January 2009 The Portland Press Herald confirmed that the agency was overwhelmed:

Martyak at the Safety Commission said the uproar over the new law has overwhelmed the agency.

“I cannot tell you how serious this is. The agency doesn’t have the resources to implement this on the timeline we’ve been given,” said Martyak, who had just stepped out of a meeting with apparel industry representatives, who were making the case that cloth products should be exempt.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=234882&ac=PHnws
quote is from page 2 of the article.

I, as a parent, rely on the publicity that the CU gives recall notices. This bad law needs to be fixed NOW. Children are being injured because congress gave the CPSC an impossible job in forcing the implementation the CPSIA and it is now masking real problems, just as Ms Nord predicted.

This will be one of my talking points with my senator for why we need to fix this NOW.
Barb

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1692

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit in such Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 24, 2009

Mr. FORTENBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit in such Act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that–

(1) the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) sought to protect children from the dangers associated with products containing unreasonable levels of lead, by imposing lead standards and testing requirements;

(2) the Consumer Product Safety Commission has interpreted the Act to apply to all children’s books;

(3) the Act was not intended to apply to ordinary books–those books that are published on paper or cardboard, printed by conventional publishing methods, intended to be read, and lacking inherent play value;

(4) comprehensive testing by accredited laboratories of finished books and their component materials has found total lead content at levels considered non-detectable, or 10 ppm, well below the thresholds in CPSIA;

(5) the book manufacturing process is now standardized across the United States and much of the world, does not add lead to the component materials, and is specialized such that the book manufacturing equipment is not generally used for other types of manufacturing, avoiding the potential for cross-contamination;

(6) the largest publishers in the United States do not use lead-based chemicals or other materials in the manufacturing of ordinary books, in accordance with standards promulgated by the Coalition of Northeastern Governors;

(7) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined there is minimal risk to children from lead in ordinary books;

(8) reading books is critical to child development and education and schools and libraries operating under limited budgets provide millions of children with free access to ordinary books, and yet despite the lack of evidence that their books contain harmful levels of lead, libraries and other organizations have to restrict access to children’s books due to the burdens and uncertainties associated with CPSIA’s new lead levels and testing requirements.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR ORDINARY BOOKS.

Section 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (15 U.S.C. 1278a) is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘(h) Exclusion for Ordinary Books-

‘(1) IN GENERAL- The limits established under subsection (a) shall not apply to ordinary books.

‘(2) DEFINITION OF ORDINARY BOOKS- As used in this subsection, the term ‘ordinary books’ means books published on paper or cardboard, printed by conventional publishing methods, intended to be read, and lacking inherent play value.’.

We are waking up from our slumber and growing ever more angered as we realize our situation brought on by corrupt, greedy and power-hungry politicians.