Comments on: Congress Should Return Toy Safety Regulation to the CPSC

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:23:27 +0000

Thank you for saying this. I am a crafter with a websie and do craft shows. I don’t know how I will be able to afford to have everything tested. I do not understand how a package of onesies snaps is tested safe for lead ,then I open that package to put ribbon on them, and then I need to have that same onesie snap tested for lead. It is not logical. I just don’t understand. In my state there is not any testing facility, that means the $ amount will be ever increasing for what we have tested.
Thank you for fighting for us.

By: Cedric

Cedric — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:09:45 +0000

This affects all of us so much, but there are similar laws killing every part of our economy. We don’t seem to see what doesn’t hit us directly.

The point of the Constitution was to stop laws like this from being written. We need to support those who want to keep ALL the laws in line with the Constitution. Some of the bad laws will hit us directly, some will hit others, but ALL of them hit some citizen.

None of us deserve this kind of abuse at the hands of a despotic government.

By: BobMarche

BobMarche — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:11:52 +0000

Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:57:34 +0000

Thank you Rick for putting up the good fight.
Between costly testing requirements and impossible labeling requirements I will have to shut down my cottage industry before I ever had a chance to get started. We are a group that is not being listened to. Seems to me if Congress would just listen, then a solution could be worked out. Most of my suppliers have been more than willing to supply me with the certificates to show the raw materials I use in my products are safe. For small manufacturers this is where a change in the law could make a difference, along with more reasonable labeling.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:04:02 +0000

Thank you for your well-written commentary. This law is so harmful to so many, from the cottage industries that have always used safe materials to the children who won’t have those creative and imaginative toys to play with anymore.

I don’t create things for children, but as a parent this affects me just as much. It is taking away really good choices and leaving me in the hands of the big manufacturers which can afford to comply with the law (and which in each case have been the source of the problems in the past).

It’s like having a leaky faucet in someone’s kitchen and having the city dig up the entire water system, replace the city pipes, charge the citizens to pay for the overhaul, and then wonder why there’s still a leaky faucet and nobody can afford to pay their water bill.

By: mary

mary — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:18:27 +0000

what happened to our freedom where we can make things for out children, what if your low income and can’t afford to purchase the store clothing this is not fair we live in the united states of America and should be able to use are freedoms we earned stop taking them away from us.

By: Fleecy

Fleecy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:38:21 +0000

Not only does CPSIA remove one more potential source of income from the market (one would need to be independently wealthy to try to enter much of the handmade items market now, to afford labelling/testing costs, since anything that could even potentially “appeal to children” is under CPSIA), but now charity such as giving coats to children is effectively prohibited as well.

The people who are getting hurt the most with this are poor. Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. are removing children’s items from shelves so that they will not be liable under CPSIA. What is a parent supposed to do if they cannot afford the (soon to be more expensive due to testing costs and new labelling laws, no doubt) new coat or toy for their child? The kid is supposed to be cold and have no toys? This law didn’t make things better for anyone, it tore a source of income away from many people who needed it and is making things needlessly more expensive for people who already couldn’t afford many things… not a good thing in this economy. Congress should definitely hand it back to CPSC, they obviously had the situation under as much control as possible (over 99% safe judging by what you said) even before the CPSIA.

By: Michelle Martin

Michelle Martin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:35:37 +0000

Thanks for the well spoken comments on the CPSIA. The “one-size-fits-all” approach to this regulation is misguided at best. We need to protect small businesses who have done nothing but produce safe alternatives to the mega-company model of toy production.

By: Hope

Hope — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:47:40 +0000

Thank you Sir, for stirring up the dust…it seems like few people are discussing this…it is too easily being swept under the rug.

Keep writing, keep talking…eventually, some one will listen (I hope).

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:45:59 +0000

Thank you Rick for all your hard work in trying to lead our current blind congress. Maybe if they cant see that the CPSIA needs reform then maybe they cant see a RE-ELECTION to office. Seems elected officals forget who put them in office can also remove them in the future.