CPSIA – Dan Marshall of HTA is Profiled in WSJ

Dan Marshall of Peapod Natural Toys and Baby Care in St. Paul, MN and founder of the Handmade Toy Alliance, was profiled in Saturday’s WSJ in an article entitled “Small Crafts v. Big Government“.

Let me give you a hint who is winning . . . it has the initials “B.G.”

Here is the body of the article:

This is a story about artisanal cheese and hand-polished wooden toys, organic spinach and exquisitely smocked baby dresses—the burgeoning small-scale economy so beloved by members of the “creative class.” But it’s also about another, much-discussed growth industry: the production of political cynicism among formerly idealistic Americans.

The story begins in 2007, an unusually good year for Peapods Natural Toys and Baby Care, in St. Paul, Minn., and many similar mom-and-pop businesses. Frightened by news that toys made in China contained unsafe levels of lead, customers were looking for alternatives to the usual big-box offerings. Just as organic farmers gain market share whenever there’s a food-safety panic, the lead scare boosted sales of artisanal children’s goods. “People wanted made-in-USA products, and we were the only place in town that had them,” says Dan Marshall, the owner of Peapods.

Vendors offering organic materials and a personal touch seemed poised to prosper. But the short-term boon soon turned into a long-term disaster. In response to the lead panic, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, or CPSIA, by an overwhelming majority. The law mandates third-party testing and detailed labels not only for toys but for every single product aimed at children 12 and under.

“It’s everything from shoes to hair bows, Boy Scout patches and bicycles—it’s everything,” says Mr. Marshall. But few people producing or selling artisanal kids’ products even realized that the CPSIA applied to them until months after President George W. Bush had signed it. By then it was too late.

Although big companies like Mattel could spread the extra costs over millions of toys, Mr. Marshall’s small-scale suppliers couldn’t. Unable to afford thousands of dollars in testing per product, some went out of business. Others moved production to China to cut costs. Many slashed their product lines, reserving the expensive new tests for only their top sellers. The European companies that used to sell Peapods such specialty items as wooden swords and shields or beeswax-finished cherry-wood rattles simply abandoned the U.S. market. The survivors jacked up prices.

Mr. Marshall and other entrepreneurs formed the Handmade Toy Alliance to try to get the law changed, without success. “When Ron Paul’s the only guy who votes against something it’s really hard to go back and fix it,” says Mr. Marshall, exaggerating only slightly. Neither political officials nor the mainstream media have been especially sympathetic.

“I’m a lot more cynical than I was,” says Cecilia Leibovitz, who owns Craftsbury Kids, an online shop selling handmade toys and children’s clothes, and also leads the CPSIA discussion group among Etsy.com’s online sellers. Mostly individuals producing one-of-a-kind items, Etsy crafters find it especially hard to comply with, or even interpret, the law’s requirements.

By contrast, consider the recently enacted Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act. Like the CPSIA, it establishes expensive new labeling, record-keeping, inspection and reporting requirements. But, unlike the CPSIA, it carves out an exception for small operations.

The reason for the exemption is not that small farms are safer than big ones. It’s that a vocal, established and well-connected interest group didn’t want the law to put small farmers out of business.

Agriculture is a highly politicized industry, and proponents of small-scale farming are organized, ideological, and well represented in the elite media. Buying handmade toys may be nice, but eating produce from the farmer’s market is a quasi-religious ritual of group identity. The exemption is what Michael Pollan, the best-selling author and leading locavore, calls “a very important signal—that this is a different economy and it’s going to play by slightly different rules.”

Other artisanal businesses have gotten a less supportive signal. It’s not enough, they’ve learned, to light a single hand-poured beeswax candle rather than curse the mass-market darkness. Unless you have the right protection, Congress can easily snuff it out.

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CPSIA – Dan Marshall of HTA is Profiled in WSJ

CPSIA – Canada Tries to "Out-Stupid" Us – Is that EVEN Possible?

When I went to Toronto one year ago to attend the international ICPHSO conference, I came away impressed with the sensibility of the Health Canada folks. They were grounded, they were calm and reflective, they seemed to understand that the CPSIA went too far and was not needed as the basis for Canadian law. I left with a sense of admiration and confidence in them.

And one year later – they are showing troubling signs of declining IQ points, a possible sign of lead poisoning! In a stunning turn of events, Canada apparently has decided to play one-upsmanship with the United States. Not satisfied at losing in the international arena of regulatory lunacy, Canada proceeded to tighten up our oh-so-loose CPSIA lead standards.

Editorial Pause Here – Someday I want to see governments everywhere refer to INJURY STATISTICS when they call for new laws to make people safer. To figure out if people are “unsafe”, one must certainly know if they are being injured . . . right? You’d really want to be able to measure that, wouldn’t you? Please tell me you understand this point . . . . Soooo, if one chooses to argue that we are harming children with “too much” lead in children’s products, isn’t incumbent on the accuser to demonstrate in some meaningful way that the harm we will spend zillions to “eliminate” actually exists, you know, at a bare minimum? Shouldn’t we demand a higher standard of justification than “it stands to reason”?

Back to Canada – Canada announced on November 29th “the most stringent rules in the world” on lead. The Canadians have decided that lead limits should be 90 ppm for toys and any product other than a kitchen utensil intended to come in contact with the mouth for children three years old and under. They will also join us at 90 ppm for lead-in-paint.

Please recall that the dirt in Mr. Obama’s backyard tested for lead at higher levels than 90 ppm. His DIRT. So now we know he won’t be able make toys or teething rings out of his dirt and sell those products in Canada. Finally, the menace is contained!

So why did they do this? “Health Canada says the new limits are needed because while reputable companies do their best to ensure lead has not been added intentionally to their products, companies can still run into trouble with quality control when importing huge volumes of goods in complex supply chains.”

Oh, I see – it’s the fault of darkest China! Good Canadians wouldn’t do this but those evil people in their complex supply chains – they can’t be trusted.

I would toss this off as some kind of joke other than the fact that this creates a massive business problem for us. And, of course, after the cynical and ignorant politicians get past congratulating themselves on saving the populace (from what?), there will be great mystery about what happened to variety of playthings in Canada or why educational products are much harder to find. What a mystery that will be!

As an American supplier of many Canadian school supply dealers and Canadian schools (we make Canada-specific educational products), I want to note that we have never had a single accusation of injury in Canada from any of our products since we were founded in 1984. I do not relish attempting to meet this asinine standard, lower than the loathsome U.S. standard of 100 ppm due to come into being in August for no particular reason other than to kill jobs. Will anyone feel sorry for me when we get our first test report showing lead levels of 93 ppm on a single part in an assembled toy? In other words, compliant with the U.S., but 3 parts-per-million above the arbitrary trace standards of Canada? Nah, it will be ours to savor – no one will care. We have to make children safe, safe, safe and who could put a price of the safety of our children?!

I don’t know how long we will sell products for kids under three in Canada if this law goes forward. Perhaps the Canadians figure the kids can start to be educated after three.

Maybe Canada really has a chance to out-stupid us if they keep this up. Bully for you, Canada! And I thought it couldn’t be done . . . .

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CPSIA – Canada Tries to "Out-Stupid" Us – Is that EVEN Possible?

CPSIA – Wingnut or Dingbat, You Make the Call!

Hey, it’s her words – is Deborah Blum a “wingnut” or a “dingbat”? In her blogpost from earlier today, Ms. Blum takes Inez Tenenbaum to task for her sins in not clamping down HARDER on American businesses stupid enough to continue selling children’s products. Ms. Blum is apparently a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin.

As an aside, I must say I had the mildest twinge of sympathy for Ms. Tenenbaum after I read Blum’s blogpost. This is not my usual emotion when thinking about the CPSC Chairman, but heck, there’s no winning for her, is there? I don’t want her job.

Ms. Blum’s contention is so asinine that it hardly bears repeating except that apparently Twitter is alive with tweets and re-tweets of her blogpost. Her thesis is that Ms. Tenenbaum tolerates excessive amounts of lead in children’s products and explains it thus:

“So I’ve come up with a nice little conspiracy theory. You and your business partners are tired of low-income consumers. They can only afford dirt-cheap crap from China, their purchases don’t add up enough to float the balance sheets. So, of course, you aren’t protecting them with tougher regulations. Of course, American corporations aren’t investing in safer products. Slowly but surely, one piece of jewelry, one pair of plastic boots at a time, you’re getting rid of everyone who doesn’t matter enough to be kept safe. Sure it sounds crazy. But is it any crazier than importing poisoned goods for almost ten years without looking for alternatives or better safety systems? I don’t think so. So who’s the wingnut now?” [Emphasis added]

Hey, Ms. Blum, I can answer that one – YOU are the wingnut.

Pot calling the kettle black, I think Ms. Blum shows why some blogs must be “discounted”. She makes about every possible reactive error in assessing the lead “problem” in children’s products:

• She confuses CPSC lead recalls (according to her, 289 since 2001 – “more than 30 recalls every single year”) with lead injuries. Hysteria over the POSSIBILITY of injury without bothering to assess the PROBABILITY of injury is how we got into this mess in the first place. I am sorry Ms. Blum is so easily rattled but isn’t the data on injuries relevant? I have documented one reported death and three unverified injuries from lead in this period of time. Should we turn our lives upside down to reduce that risk further? This only amplifies my call for a National Xanax Fund.
• She reasons from headlines but shows little mastery of the actual facts. She cites the recall of McDonald’s Shrek glasses (“McDonald’s recalled more than 12 million “Shrek 3″ glasses contaminated with the toxic metal cadmium (and also a little lead)”) but fails to note that the CSPC has acknowledged in WRITING that the glasses were safe. She also cites the AP’s recent report of lead and cadmium in enamel baked on certain glasses, but fails to note that the AP also admitted that the health risk was low or that the presence of these heavy metals is LEGAL in enamels of this type. Congress did that, and how could we EVER doubt Congress?!
• Ms. Blum repeats the junk science notion that if lead is bad in some cases, it MUST be bad in all cases. She absurdly compares lead in enamel with lead in drinking water, and then asks why there aren’t standards to protect adults from the dangers of lead in enamels. Ms. Blum, can I see your turnip truck?
• Ms. Blum plays the China card, a jingoistic line of reasoning used by blamestormers. We make many of our products in China, and I consider this kind of finger pointing a contemporary form of racism. I have a lot of experience with Chinese sources, and have good reason to trust our trading partners. Ms. Blum regrettably has no idea what she is talking about when she blames “China”, as though we all buy from the government of China. We do business with other privately-owned companies, not “China”. It may make the world seem less complex to equate “cheap” with “poor quality” or “dangerous”. It is not accurate, however.

If the Deborah Blums of the world get the upper hand in this regulatory mess, they will solve the lead problem, I am sure. It won’t be a solution you will like, nor will it be effective. Lead was here before Deborah Blum roamed the Earth and will here after she’s gone – it’s an ELEMENT, after all. No law can banish it, and no economy can survive if lead must be eliminated in all forms from all products, even in unharmful trace amounts.

She will succeed, however, in killing off all companies that make children’s products. That will solve the “problem” she is apparently obsessed with, but will create other, more serious ones.

Let’s hope we don’t continue to slide down this slippery slope led by people who can’t decide if they are wingnuts or dingbats. It’s a tough call, I’ll admit. She might be both.

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CPSIA – Wingnut or Dingbat, You Make the Call!

CPSIA – CPSC Sets Its Sights On the Real Menace to Society . . . Buttons

In yesterday’s USA Today article entitled “Lead testing can be costly for mom and pop toy shops“, Scott Wolfson, Director of Public Affairs at the CPSC, cited the “positive effects” of the CPSIA on the market. What were those “positive effects” that Wolfson bragged about to the national media? “[Wolfson] notes global suppliers are choosing lead-free buttons for adult and children’s clothing, which is safer for everyone and helps shift the burden from small businesses to suppliers up the line. He says Tenenbaum is trying ‘to find the right balance between compliance and not putting companies out of business.’”

Let’s be clear here, Wolfson is talking about making everyone “safer” by eliminating lead-in-substrate in buttons. He is NOT talking about lead-in-paint. Lead-in-paint has been illegal for decades, and a small number of recalls have occurred for lead-in-paint violations relating to buttons. [No injuries were ever reported, of course, but don't get me started.] Buttons have been recalled for coming loose and violating the small parts rules. This is a REAL hazard to small children. Kids can actually choke on a button and be injured. Wolfson is NOT talking about this issue. He is focusing on other “positive effects” from the law.

Wolfson also took pains to note that the buttons were being removed from adult clothing, too. Did you realize how much danger you were in before the CPSC was able to induce these “positive effects”? I really appreciate Wolfson bringing this to my attention. Thank heavens for our federal protectors!

How many recalls have occurred in the United States for lead-in-substrate in buttons – EVER? According to the CPSC website, ZERO. According to a Google search this morning, I believe this kind of recall has NEVER occurred ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. And the removal of lead-in-substrate is a positive effect of the law? Is Wolfson responsible to explain this puzzling remark?

So after two years of continuous arguing and the devotion of many tens of thousands of man-hours of work to implement the noxious CPSIA by the federal government and industry alike , the CPSC holds up as its great achievement – buttons. Whew, it’s safe to walk the streets of America again!

Thank you CPSC for seeking the right balance between compliance and NOT putting companies out of business. Yeah, I get it.

Unfortunately, by highlighting something as asinine as buttons as a possible lead hazard, the CPSC fuels a long-simmering public hysteria over latent chemical hazards. No one was previously aware that buttons could kill you from their bound=in lead content, but apparently our federal government is quite concerned about button lead content. Isn’t that what Wolfson said? After all, why would he mention it to USA Today if it wasn’t a problem at all? This kind of remark helps persuade the public that dangers lurk where they can’t see them. Lead must be terrible, right, if the CPSC is so hysterical about it? The conclusion is inescapable.

And let’s not forget the McDonald’s Shrek glasses. Cadmium must also be a terrible problem or else why would our trusted federal government urge recall of the drinking glasses out of “an abundance of caution”? Which are we to believe – the CPSC’s actions in demanding the recall for undisclosed trace levels of cadmium in the enamel on the OUTSIDE of the glasses, or Wolfson’s own written reassurance that the glasses aren’t toxic? And of course, there is the Congressional “inquiry” by Waxman and Stupak as further evidence of the “justifiable” health concern. As the relentless stream of breathless and panicked media stories confirm, the public believes that the recall was justified and therefore that cadmium is a real concern, a silent “killer”. The fact that there has never been a single reported cadmium injury from a consumer product in this country’s history is never discussed.

This kind of reinforcement leads to paranoia about many safe products – and makes doing business in the children’s market in this country exceptionally difficult and unpleasant now. No one trusts us anymore and the only thing we did wrong was elect the wrong people to Congress.

The message that we business people can’t be trusted is clogging the airwaves almost daily. The weekly corporate bashings by Congress and the White House paints a clear picture to the American public. You need only consider the treatment of BP, Toyota, Wellpoint, Massey-Ferguson, GM, Chrysler, evil bankers . . . the list is long. We’re all bad, right? That’s the theme these days.

CPSC leadership also reinforces the notion that corporations must be closely supervised by the federal government. Corporations will cut corners and take chances with your children’s health but for the crusading efforts of this pioneering and courageous safety agency. Remember Tenenbaum’s theme: the CPSC is not a “teething tiger” anymore. With this approach at the CPSC, small wonder then that these are among the USA Today comments:

“Yeah…Tests can be costly, but on the other hand death seems to be pretty costly also. But I guess the determining factor will always be money. Save 10 cents, 10 dollars, 100 dollars at the cost of someone else.“

“Well if they cannot test the products they make to insure that our children are safe. Then its time to start making other items. The simple fact is that the Chinese and our bought and paid for congressmen/congress women have allowed this to happen. My opinion ban all products from China since it is evident that they do not care for the health of our citizens.“

“WE can never ever trust the Chinese. They are the worst people! Why do we do any business with them is beyond me.“

“This is just more gov regulation that the GOP says get’s in the way of the Free Market. Let the Free Market get the lead out on it’s own. Too bad there’s no profits in ‘getting the lead out’. It’s cheaper to use lead as a filler, and hire lobbyists to pay-off congress. We’ve got it all dialed-in in America!“

Thanks for all the help, CPSC. You sure are helping our market. Your efforts will only succeed in driving the good people out of this market, along with their good products, their innovations, their productivity gains and their jobs. And who will be around to help educate your kids and grandkids? Let’s not think about that one. No, no, ignore me for a few more years. This can go on indefinitely. We’ll just take it. We love it. Go ahead.

It’s time for Nero to share the stage with the Democrats. Go on, fiddle while Rome burns.

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CPSIA – CPSC Sets Its Sights On the Real Menace to Society . . . Buttons

CPSIA – ICPHSO Update – Remarks of Gib Mullan, Head of CPSC Enforcement

Gib Mullan’s remarks on enforcement:

• Import surveillance staff is now up to 18 people.
• Using Commercial Targeting Analysis Center (CTAC) to stop things at the port. Can see what’s coming in before it arrives.
• Is working with the International Trade Commission, the folks responsible for HTS Codes (Harmonized Tariff Schedule). The CPSC is trying to “piggyback” on HTS code to identify the products of interest to the agency. Making “significant headway”.
• Imports samples rising at a rapid rate. Only about half of the samples fail.
• Use of XRF is one of the agency’s “secrets for success”. Will use for cadmium, too. Only one-tenth of items scanned are being sampled. This implies that less than 5% of items scanned fail. Most items are not inspected, which is just a numbers game.
• Field Investigation Division is back to a “growth mode”, in 55 locations with 89 investigators. Expanding to Internet surveillance. They have seen a surge in eBay sales of recalled items after recalls are announced. Interesting!
• Created email address for the public to report sales of recalled products. Now everyone can be on a cop on the beat, how wonderful. Hope I can still trust my kids. . . .
• Retailer reports are rising. Participants in this program include WalMart, Sears, Amazon and others. 20,000 reports a year. Also reports by email and on the hot line 800 number are jumping. The total number of reports is cresting at 50,000 per year. All of this is BEFORE the public database. [Soon a system will be fully constructed that will make doing business in the U.S. children's product industry impossible, something to look forward to (this is my thought, not Gib's remarks).]
• Field “blitzes” are increasing. Examples are pool and spas, drywall, drawstrings, cribs. This is a new activity although blitzes at the port are old hat, in my experience.
• Defect Investigations Division has 19 compliance officers.
• Recalls in 2009 DECLINED from 563 to 466. Number of units went up to an all-time high, 229 million units. Lots of big recalls in 2009. Should we feel safer now? I wonder . . . . Gib himself questions whether this is “good or bad”.
• Fast Track recalls are pretty steady. “Fast tracks” are recalls initiated by companies and brought to the CPSC’s attention by the company itself. CPSC-initiated recalls are steady in the 50-60 range. Cases stemming from regulatory violations declined from 167 to 47.
• Early warning system relating to cribs, bassinets and play yards is resulting in faster recalls. [No info on the availability of cribs and so on was provided, or the cost of those goods now.]
• Joint recalls with Canada was done first on February 19, 2009 (that fills in a hole!). Total of 13 joint recalls in 2009 and 16 in 2010 to date. Expects more joint recalls in the future, broadening to other countries. Gib thinks this makes it simpler for companies going through recalls. Again, not sure how I feel about this but am not opposed in principle.
• Regulatory Enforcement Division has 18 Compliance Officers now. This includes Chemical, Children’s, Flammability and Mechanical hazards. Letters of Advice (“LOAs”) fell a bit in 2009 by perhaps 12%. Only a small percentage result in recalls. In 2009, found 338 lead content violations and 118 lead in paint violations, mainly at the port. Recalls have come down considerably, almost to zero. Stops at the port are higher than that, but don’t result in recalls necessarily. Those are declining, too.
• Compliance Division now has 14 of its own attorneys
• Civil penalties rose a lot in 2009. Gib specifically noted that he was not being “gleeful” about penalties but simply noting that penalties are a more serious risk now. I am okay with this tone, it is common sense. Penalties totalled nearly $9 million. I just hope that penalties moderate and become more purposeful, rather than political.
• Made a STRONG point about fraudulent testing. The CPSC caught fraud in lighter testing and it led to criminal charges. They are working on another case now. This is great news as far as I am concerned. Cheating is a REAL problem (an actual problem, not an imaginary problem). The CPSC should find the bad guys and punish them. The resources of the agency are well-served if focused on removing these unscrupulous people from the market.
• The agency is forging new alliances with the State AGs. They have a monthly conference call with this group. This is the CPSC’s proactive effort to reign in the State AGs by making them part of the process. If this works, great. Again, we need to watch out for the lowest common denominator risk.
• Working with China on implementing “best practices”. Getting better, faster. China recalls went DOWN in 2009 and he anticipates improved safety in Chinese products. This, too, is a good use of agency resources. If we really are getting better, faster, Gib and his team should take a bow. Safety benefits everyone. Next up, consideration of the relationship between these initiatives and cost. Safety is an inherently economic subject. We need recognition of this basic fact.

I have omitted all reference to drywall here. This is a one-of-a-kind problem that seems unrelated to the CPSIA as far as I can tell. Likewise, I have not attempted to summarize the issues relating to ATVs and other tangential product/safety issues brought up by Gib. [He did say that repairs to the Rhino seem to be working well, btw.]

To Gib’s credit, I found his presentation quite balanced with no particular effort to frighten. I appreciate the choice of tone for what could be a quite intimidating topic.

Gib’s presentation was one of the few I can recall in the last two years on the topic of enforcement that did not materially raise my blood pressure or make me think dark thoughts about the future. Let’s hope that the CPSC can build on this base to restore trust among the business community. Safety and fear mongering is an unholy alliance. The CPSC needs the cooperation and trust of the manufacturing base.

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CPSIA – ICPHSO Update – Remarks of Gib Mullan, Head of CPSC Enforcement

CPSIA – My Answer to Sean Oberle on Resale Shops and Tenenbaum

Some of you may have been following the recent debate in the Product Safety Letter (PSL) on the CPSC’s noxious Resale Roundup program. A wave of unfavorable media coverage has dogged the new CPSC initiative, noting the risk of high fines and the unwelcome intrusion of federal regulators into an innocent American ritual, the garage sale. A highly-publicized Fox News piece apparently triggered a response by CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum in PSL on October 3 entitled “Garage Sales and CPSC — Sorting the Facts from the Myths“. In this piece, Ms. Tenenbaum promised not to fine garage sale operators, and chose to emphasize the CPSC’s noble goal of ending the resale of recalled products.

Next, Rob Wilson of Challenge and Fun, Inc., a Massachusetts-based toy company, published an Op-Ed in PSL on October 9 entitled “Consumer Confusion Comes From CPSC Guidance, Not the Media” in which he noted that the fear Ms. Tenenbaum sought to calm came not from media reports but instead from CPSC policy. In particular, he pointed out the impractical and confusing advice given in the CPSC’s own CPSC Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers. Mr. Wilson closed with the following observation: “Chairman Tenenbaum vowed at her Senate confirmation hearing to bring a common sense approach to CPSIA implementation. We are still waiting for signs of common sense from the agency regarding CPSIA.” Ah, that “common sense” thing again!

Sean Oberle, owner, publisher and editor of PSL, replied to Mr. Wilson in his own publication on October 13 in an editorial entitled “Clarity and Accuracy — CPSC, the Media and Garage Sales” in which he defended Ms. Tenenbaum on the grounds that her limited statement did not constitute a comprehensive summary of her feelings or actions on the CPSIA. It’s a remarkable piece, I hope you will read it. [In his editorial, Mr. Oberle makes the following observation: "a quick search of the blogosphere and other new-media sites finds more pieces running the gamut from mild warnings to doomsday predictions" - hmmm.] Interestingly, Mr. Oberle stresses his “neutrality” and “defense of accuracy and clarity” THREE TIMES. Draw your own conclusions.

Well, I sent Mr. Oberle MY Op-Ed reply to the debate he not only published but contributed to. Suffice it to say, he turned me down. I am publishing the Op-Ed here for your review and consideration. I would be interested in your thoughts.

I think it is critical to reflect on this rebuff and to delve into its deeper meaning. [My ego can take it, btw.] The Product Safety Letter (along with BNA) was cited by John “Gib” Mullan (Assistant Executive Director, Office of Compliance and Field Operations, CPSC) as the definitive source for information on safety issues at last February’s ICPHSO meeting. An august publication, apparently. Yet, what does a stilted debate in PSL’s pages signify? Only Mr. Oberle can say for sure. My article asks Ms. Tenenbaum to be accountable for the actions of the CPSC in implementing the defective CPSIA. Mr. Oberle has already publicly stated his neutrality on agency issues several times. [Quoting from Hamlet, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."] What’s going on here?

The American way of life is frankly dependent on our Constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech. The foundation of the visionary American system of a free media is its INDEPENDENCE. What if the media organs we depend on lose their independence? What if fear of retribution or a possible chilling in access to information challenges editorial decisions? In thinking about the end of the debate about the CPSC’s Resale Roundup in PSL, these questions resonate. I hope this is not the Obama Revolution we have all been hearing about.

My Op-Ed for your reading pleasure:

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CPSIA – My Answer to Sean Oberle on Resale Shops and Tenenbaum

CPSIA – Businesses Plan for the Final Days

With the February 10th stay on testing expiration rapidly approaching, the 15-month rules due on November 14 (expected to set deadly testing frequency requirements) and absolutely no relief on the horizon from a unfeeling, uncomprehending, resolutely unyielding Democratic Congress, businesses are left to fend for themselves. Consider the calendar: February 10th is only four months and ten days away. From that day forward, every item imported must be accompanied by a super-expensive CPSIA test report. Time is running out. This is a problem. For many products, the cost of testing ALONE renders them unprofitable. And this is on top of the high cost of tracking labels and other costs associated with the CPSIA. These new costs make obsolete many business models serving specialty markets like schools. [Btw I was told yesterday to be prepared to pay $35,000 to modify our warehouse management software system to fix ONE hole in our tracking labels accountability effort. ONE hole, not ALL the holes. Ah, it's just money, and money grows on trees, right?!] If you are a maker of products rendered unprofitable by CPSIA testing, you face ugly choices. Because many businesses run on a calendar marketing cycle, you may have to drop items mid-year after testing requirements kick in. Most dealers won’t forgive you for this. What to do? At this point, with so much uncertainty, businesses are struggling to answer this question. Planning is literally impossible. How can you address this major business planning issue set to mature in only 133 days if, for instance (as is true), no phthalates testing labs have been accredited yet and no final phthalate testing standard has been announced? Good question, darned good question. A common strategy to prepare for the Final Days is to top off inventory ahead of the testing requirement. Businesses are now scouring inventory records and ordering stock ahead of time to ride out 2010. This will be a mini-stimulus bill for China factories, giving them a boost in production if the American importers can find inventory financing from tired and scared banks. The upside to all this is that businesses planning ahead in this way will not have to torch dealer relations during 2010. This buys time as Congress continues to sit on its hands after gutting the business futures of countless small businesses. The next phase will be recovering from the shock of the Section 102(d)(2)(B) 15-month rule which is expected to require at least annual testing (or, as rumored, even more frequent testing, such as once per production run). After finalization of this rule, the jig will be up, and businesses will have to finally reconcile themselves to being put out of their markets once and for all. [Notice that this has nothing to do with safety, just gratuitous, thoughtless destruction of economic value and markets.] Specialty companies will face the prospect of either abandoning their specialty markets for mass markets (with smaller, less-specialized product lines), abandonment of children’s products altogether (this has happened widely in the Donated Goods industry and in apparel already) or sale/closure. The inventory top-offs going on now will allow businesses to wind up their current business plans in an orderly fashion. At demoralizing times like this, I like to think of the comforting words of a staffer of Illinois’ own Senator Dick Durbin (whataguy!): “I think you are right that the CPSIA imposes costs on businesses, and because of economies of scale it’s the smaller businesses that will feel these costs more acutely. This is part of a larger calculation that it’s worth the costs to shift from the old system of post-market correction (once a dangerous product is out in the market and leads to sick kids, recalls, lawsuits, etc.) to a new system of pre-market testing and certification (instead of just assuming products are safe and paying the price for false assumptions).” [Correspondence dated April 16, 2009] At least we know they meant for us to die. Comforting . . . unless you thought those guys worked for you, too. It’s nice to know we are living a purpose-driven life. We get to be sacrificial lambs to Senator Durbin’s master plan to keep everyone safe. Everyone, from the Senate to Henry Waxman’s House to the caring CPSC, should be SO proud!

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CPSIA – Businesses Plan for the Final Days

The Empire Strikes Back (Forbes.com)

Jeff Stier continues to ask the tough questions in this Forbes.com piece:

As we enter a trade war with China, are our toxin fears founded?

Scaremongering U.S. regulators have been indiscriminately attacking products from China for years, and China recently struck back. Shanghai’s equivalent of our Food and Drug Administration investigated baby products made by Johnson & Johnson, echoing claims by a coalition of U.S. activists that the products pose a threat to children because they contain trace amounts of the “carcinogens” formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane. That China opted not to ban the products is good from both scientific and economic perspectives–and we should learn from this brush with product banning.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

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