CPSIA – Congressional Terror Campaign Continues (FMLA)

773 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 37 days left until Election Day.

Don’t worry, your Congressional tormentors haven’t tabled their latest effort to terrorize you, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act. We understand that the Congressional Democrats are still trying to make a “deal” on this terrible law. It’s not going away even if you have put it out of your mind.

It doesn’t matter that that this law violates WTO rules. it doesn’t matter that it is flagrantly protectionist legislation that may trigger a trade war. It doesn’t matter that it pissed off the EU, as previously reported in this space. It doesn’t matter that we will lose critical vendors. It doesn’t matter that we will face retaliatory legislation in other districts, effectively cutting off foreign markets for our export efforts.

All that matters is that Rep. Betty Sutton needs to look heroic to her constituents – the bill is a gift to her. She is fighting for her political life in this Midterm election and your petty concerns pale compared to the needs of the Congressional Democratic majority position. And you thought the politicians worked for you. It may be the other way ’round.

The latest sign of the cost of this self-destructive act is the inflamed outrage of our closed trading partner, Canada. For some reason, Canadians aren’t too psyched up about being subject to class action lawsuits in this country. Weird, you’d think they would LOVE it. . . .

” . . . Canadian Trade Minister Peter Van Loan says the ‘badly crafted’ bill could end up side-swiping Canadian exporters, even though U.S. officials insist Canada isn’t the intended target. ‘There are enough thinking people that realize that this is a badly crafted bill that causes harm to a whole bunch of people,’ Van Loan said Thursday.”

No sense of humor up north, eh? How can those Canadians act so superior, criticizing the handiwork of our very own Democrat-dominated Congress? Badly crafted legislation? Please! Never heard of such a thing.

“Van Loan says the Canadian government is holding out hope the bill won’t reach a vote before Congress adjourns in the coming weeks. ‘If it gets voted on, the charged political environment means it will almost certainly pass, because you can’t be seen voting to protect people dumping toxic drywall from China and stuff like that in your country,’ said the minister. The [Canadian] government is keeping ‘all options’ open if the bill passes, but would likely seek a waiver similar to the Buy American exemption, he said.” [Emphasis added]

Congress giving a gift to itself with self-destructive legislation, and a major trading partner implicitly threatening retaliatory legislation. Wow, we have a great government, don’t we?

Is anyone besides me TIRED of being the object of continuing terrorist attacks by our OWN government?

When can I start to vote? Someone please help me . . . .

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CPSIA – Congressional Terror Campaign Continues (FMLA)

CPSIA – WARNING: Spine Alert!

761 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 50 days left until Election Day.

Imagine pushing back on a regulatory agency. Imagine protesting demands for a knee-jerk recall of an item without a demonstrated (as opposed to asserted) substantial product hazard. Imagine someone standing up to the CPSC. Imagine . . . .

Okay, it didn’t happen here. But Elfe Juvenile Products did zing the CPSC in its letter resisting a mimic recall of strollers by Health Canada. It even took them to task for a crib recall – wow! Without coming out and using pejorative terms, only implying them, Elfe accused Health Canada of “blindly” following the CPSC and conceding the authority of the U.S. agency. That can’t be a compliment . . . .

“’My review of the applicable Canadian legislation does not reveal any mandate given to Health Canada to blindly accept decisions made by an administrative agency in a foreign jurisdiction. To do so, would, of course, be an unacceptable submission to the sovereignty of another country,’ Ivan Bern, Elfe’s general counsel, wrote to Health Canada on Jan. 19.”

Ouch. The next day our highly reactive agency announced a recall of 1.5 million strollers for laceration hazards and fingertip amputations.

Have you ever scratched your head and asked why the stroller and crib folks aren’t pushing back? Well, confronting a federal agency that has already sic’ced the U.S. Attorney on some of its hapless victims (notably, Daiso) and rabid State Attorneys General like Illinois’ Lisa Madigan is to tempt a deluge of litigation all over the country, merited or not. And they are certainly not above manipulating the press for the kind of hysterical headlnes certain to kill your business. Look at baby slings. Bankruptcy is your likely fate if you try to defend yourself. Never litigate with someone who has a printing press, as they say.

Well, one of them finally spoke up. The day after the U.S. stroller recall, Health Canada posted a recall for the Elfe-distributed stroller for the same hazard. “‘In our opinion, there is no ‘trend’ to be discerned, unless it is that of 1,499,993 consumers acting responsibly, and possible seven instances where the goal of perfection in human behaviour was demonstrated to be unattainable,’ Elfe’s general counsel told Health Canada.” Not that it mattered what they thought – Health Canada proceeded with a recall immediately anyhow.

To add to the strangeness of this interaction, Elfe was also a distributor of Simplicity cribs at the time. Those cribs started crib mania at the CPSC and also created a craze over “responsible parties” after Simplicity was driven into bankruptcy. The CPSC busily talked down Simplicity cribs, labeling them “dangerous”. No statistical analysis of the use of these cribs was released to my knowledge, just an injury count over many years. [I raised three children with dropside cribs without incident. I was also raised in a dropside crib to my knowledge. Although some people think I was dropped on my head as a child, that's not the crib's fault.]

Consider what happened next in Canada: “Following these statements, Elfe, the former distributor of Simplicity products in Canada, provided different advice to Canadian parents, telling them to make sure the crib was assembled properly. And ‘if the drop-side is installed upside down or not securely attached,’ Elfe recommended parents reinstall the drop-side the proper way with new hardware, to be provided free of charge by the company. A few days later, Health Canada posted Elfe’s voluntary recall on its website, saying the department had assessed Elfe’s metal retrofit kit and determined that it did not adequately correct the hazard posed by the drop-side crib. The newly released private correspondence reveals Elfe didn’t think this course of action was needed, accusing Health Canada again ‘deferring to the CPSC’s unilateral actions’ in the face of negative press.” [Emphasis added]

Frankly, this is the closest the press has come to reporting the truth about the CPSC and the mania spawned by the CPSIA. The CPSC is feeding public perceptions of danger where the agency formerly took the view that consumers bore some responsibility to use their equipment properly and to maintain it in good condition. Nowadays, these issues are twisted into asserted “substantial product hazards” and are accompanied by a government-sponsored negative publicity campaign (think of all the Good Morning America appearances you have seen Tenenbaum make). The agency almost blatantly dares companies to push back – with Lisa Madigan, Jerry Brown and other State Attorney General thugs waiting to pounce. The toxic commercial environment in the U.S. is not enough to satiate them – they must cross borders to spread ill will and poisonous markets to other countries.

There is no way to argue with this kind of tyranny. Their assertions are considered “findings”. The political nature of such “findings” is rarely outed. Even when the company itself initiates a recall, the agency implicitly claims it as its own (like a skin on the wall) and announces it as one of its consumer “triumphs”. These recalls exist on the CPSC website as precedent undistinguished from other recalls – influencing the decision-making of other companies and eroding the confidence of consumers. With the CPSC imprimatur, recalls are taken as signs of further corporate bad behavior.

Hats off to Elfe for at least trying to push back. I wish they had more company. The only way to end this kind of regulatory tyranny is to expose it and to resist corporate slander at the hands of a rogue agency.

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CPSIA – WARNING: Spine Alert!

CPSIA – More Hypocritical Small Business "Help"

760 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 51 days left until Election Day.

Today we heard more blather from our Fearless Leader lecturing Congressional Republicans on an asserted lack of commitment to small business. He’s totally on the side of small business. or so he contends. Here’s his take of the status of the so-called “embargoed” small business bill that he wants to pass to solve all our economic problems:

“And you hear some of my friends on the Republican side complaining that, well, we’d get more business investment if we had more certainty. Well, here’s an example where we could give some certainty right away. Pass this bill. I will sign it into law the day after it’s passed or the day it is passed. And then right away I think a lot of small businesses around the country will feel more comfortable about hiring and making investments.”

The problem, according to Mr. Obama, is Republicans. Aha. And what about all the other things we know? I have documented in this space for two solid years the deafness of Congressional Democrats to our pleas. We have basically grovelled for scraps and been totally stuffed. Even the micro-businesses (as represented by the well-known HTA) have been spurned cruelly by the CPSC and by Congress. We are being asphyxiated and no Dem can be bothered to notice.

Of course, I think it’s RICH to be lectured by Obama over “certainty”. He says he has a quick fix to “certainty” – just pass his bill and magically everything’s okay again. Ummm, that may be just a tad over-simplified. In the children’s product industry right now, we have a ten-ton anvil dangling over our heads with the pending testing frequency and component testing rules at the CPSC, all with the potential (likelihood?) to squish small businesses. This Dem-run agency has begun to ignore public comments, as evidenced by its ridiculous dismissal of comments on the definition of “Children’s Product”. Taking comments is a pain in the neck, especially if the draft rules make no sense. You keep having to rewrite everything . . . . Is it any wonder why people are not investing in this market? Given that we must also deal with the pending cost deluge of the health care bill and unspecified tax hikes – for many people, the fetal position is the new work posture.

And what is happening right now, simultaneously with Mr. Obama’s lectures about how to make life better for small businesses? Well, Mr. O and his Dems are cynically opposing rescission of the penal 1099 provision in the Obamacare bill. Know about this small business killer yet? You will now have to file 1099 forms with the IRS for all merchandise your business buys (over $600 per year per supplier). The paper blizzard won’t just affect your suppliers, but also your customers (to whom you are a supplier). Try to estimate the number of forms flying back and forth every year courtesy of this new rule. How will you handle this new paper pushing exercise? We estimate that these forms will cost us $50-$100 to prepare and file (more than a P.O. because of demanding record keeping requirements and possible liability for errant filings) – for our thousands of suppliers and customers. Do the math – this will slaughter small business. Death by a thousand (paper) cuts.

The Republicans want to kill it. The Dems admit it was a mistake (they say they were “blindsided” – everything bad is “unintentional”, rather than poorly-conceived or simply incompetent). Nonetheless, the Dems don’t want to delete it. Why? Well, amending this provision “opens the door” to amending other parts of Obamacare. Whoa! Can’t do that . . . even if their stupid provision will kill your business. Too bad for you (and me), I guess. See this article from today’s Wall Street Journal.

I will hand it to the Dems – they have created their own cruel kind of certainty. I am absolutely certain they don’t care what I think or what happens to the jobs our company provides. That seems quite certain nowadays.

This can’t continue . . . . PLEASE help on Election Day.

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CPSIA – More Hypocritical Small Business "Help"

CPSIA – Illinois Politics in the Gutter

742 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are 69 days left until Election Day.

After two years of banging my head against the wall on the CPSIA, it has become clear that much of the problem is in Congressional leaders from two states, California (Waxman, Boxer, Feinstein) and Illinois (Durbin, Rush, Schakowsky). [I hope I'm not forgetting any other "worthies".] I live in Illinois. The fact that our state is part of this disaster is no surprise. I get to follow the local political goings-on in the paper and on the Internet. Of course, people talk, too. We sure know how to pick ‘em in Illinois . . . .

I think it’s well-known that I am not a big fan of Ms. Schakowsky for her cheerleading for the noxious CPSIA and her leadership of the gang that stymied any effort to fix that awful law and its regulatory by-products. And it’s hard not to be utterly disgusted by her legislative agenda, which earned her the rank of NUMBER ONE SPENDER IN CONGRESS and which has been a job-killer of the first order. She provides many reasons to dislike her passionately . . . but did you also know that her husband is a FELON? As a lawyer, I have very little sympathy for felons. One never becomes a felon by accident. [As a matter of fact, the prospect of being accused of a felony under the CPSIA is one of my hottest "hot buttons" as I deeply resent that our government could make something that inappropriate possible under federal law.]

Yes, in fact, Schakowsky’s husband is a crook. Robert Creamer was convicted of financial crimes in 2005 (check kiting and tax evasion, a $2.3 million fraud committed against nine financial institutions to fund his salary, among other things) while Schakowsky was a sitting member of Congress, served five months in the pokey for his felonies and then was placed under house arrest with his member of Congress spouse for 11 months. Perhaps you think this is some sort of Illinois sitcom or perhaps a new kind of reality show. Here is Creamer’s jail release record, if you are curious.

Creamer’s criminal record is absent from his bio, interestingly enough. Anyone shocked to learn that Creamer was an important advisor to our very own Governor Blagojevich, a fellow felon? Creamer has quite a business going as a political consultant – Democrats from all over the country clamor for his help. Hmmm.

And the Illinois sewer continues to spew to this very day. Mr. Creamer, who was a critical thought leader and trainer for the 2008 Obama campaign (Obama is another Illinoisan with a CPSIA taint), is now apparently part of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign for Senate against Mark Kirk. Here’s a still of Alexi Giannoulias posing with Mr. Creamer:

Also conversing with Mssrs. Giannoulias and Creamer is lobbyist Larry Suffredin. Here’s what Wikipedia says about his lobbying practice: “Suffredin is a registered lobbyist with Cook County, the City of Chicago, and the State of Illinois. Suffredin lobbyist clients include resort and casino company MGM Mirage, owners of the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois, and Penn National Gaming, owners of the Hollywood Casino, Aurora, Illinois, the Illinois Alliance of Competitive Telephone Companies, the Donors Forum of Chicago, the Illinois Arts Alliance, and Illinois Citizens for Handgun Control, the Chicago Bar Association, and Kankakee Regional Landfill LLC. He is also a registered lobbyist for Abbott Laboratories, Nursepower Services Corporation, and Quest Diagnostics.”

I assume the three of them were discussing the weather. “Pretty sunny out today, Bob.” “Larry, did you see that rain cloud as you drove in?” “Alexi, surely it won’t rain on your parade!”

This still is from a Giannoulias campaign video pitching an endorsement by Jan Schakowsky. Perhaps there are a few dots to connect here. . . . Giannoulias chats with Creamer at the 1:45 point in the video, check it out yourself:

An Illinois Senatorial candidate hanging out with a felon who stole from banks? Hey, isn’t that practically the very question that dogs Giannoulias in this campaign? How ironic! And then there’s the issue of members of Congress who consort with thieves. This is even more ironic given the Dems’ practice this year of viciously bashing banks and bank bailouts. Perhaps defrauding banks is okay, but keeping them afloat is not. there an odor in the room???

What integrity! How inspiring! Can’t wait to vote . . . .

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CPSIA – Illinois Politics in the Gutter

CPSIA – Happy Birthday CPSIA!!!

Can’t let a wonderful occasion like this go unnoticed – HAPPY BIRTHDAY CPSIA! Two years ago today, President Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act into law, giving vast new powers to CPSC and promising wondrous new levels of “safety” for children in our country.

And how much safer we have become! In my post “Numbers Don’t Lie“, I abstracted the injury statistics from CPSC children’s product recalls over the prior 11 years. I know from “someone who should know” that the CPSC does not tabulate injury statistics like this – so I am your only source even on the second birthday of the CPSIA. No matter, the spreadsheet indicates that there were 242 recalls of children’s products between August 14, 2008 and the end of my study, April 21, 2010. By contrast, there were a total of 657 recalls of children’s products between August 14, 2008 and the randomly-selected end of my study, March 5, 1999. The injuries associated with lead that proceeded the CPSIA were one death and two asserted injuries, and after the CPSIA – one asserted lead injury (in two years). [See "Numbers Don't Lie (Update No. 1)".] What an achievement! It’s so, soooo clear we need this tough new law. . . .

By the way, I don’t mean to be too “science-y”, but a reduction in lead injuries from one death and two asserted injuries in nine years to one asserted injury in two years is simply not a statistically significant reduction. And we must consider additionally that ALL of the injuries, before and after the CPSIA, were ASSERTED BUT NOT VERIFIED. So there may be ZERO recorded actual injuries – we just don’t know. This makes our health improvement objectives even fuzzier.

And the cost of the CPSIA “final solution”? Well, I have calculated that, using the HTA’s estimate of $5.625 billion in annual CPSIA compliance costs (which I believe is low and in any event was calculated before the CPSIA showed its hand on testing frequency – see below), the 11-year cost of compliance is a mere $61.9 Billion. Using EPA metrics for the economic value of a human life and one lost IQ point, and giving full credit to each of the three asserted but unverified lead injuries, I have calculated the cost of the injuries to be $6.1 million over 11 years. That’s pretty symmetrical, don’t you think? $62 billion in costs to save $6.1 million.

Spend $10,000 to save a buck. That sums up this era in a single sentence.

Oh, but it gets even better. In case you, or pick any regulator, are too dense to understand the implications of those numbers for the future prospects of the children’s product market, the CPSC has recently published a rule for comment on testing frequency and “reasonable testing programs”. This rule was due on November 14, 2009 (hence the “15 Month Rule”) but was delayed because the CPSC understood the rule’s potential to literally kill all small businesses in this market. [That would include our business, btw.] So they held a two-day workshop in December 2009 to hear ideas and industry concerns and then spent months crafting the rule. This rule has been in the works for two years now. You have to figure they’re serious.

The CPSC was kind enough to illustrate the costs our business can expect under their sparkling new rule. So I broke out my trusty calculator (again – too math-y? too science-y?) and determined that they intend for us to spend a mere $10,000 per item per year in testing. This includes destroying 54 samples of each item in the process of testing. Anyhow, think of how many products you make – and multiply by $10,000. That’s your annual testing bill now.

Drum roll, please . . . our bill will be a mere $15 million per year! Pretty exciting to get off so easy. No doubt our bankruptcy will make American kids safer. Of course, I am pretty sure it won’t make them any smarter – our educational products will cease to exist. Then, of course, their ignorance of math and science might qualify to run the CPSC. There’s always a bright side to tragedy and catastrophe, I suppose.

It is worth a passing note that this is my 490th blogpost on the CPSIA and its terrible effects. I have submitted comments letters by the bushel basket, testified numerous times at the CPSC (often at their request), testified in front of Congress, been on national TV and radio, wrote Op-Eds and been featured innumerable times in various publications, held a rally on Capitol Hill, met with Commissioners, Congressional staffers and members of Congress, and so on. The CPSC’s actions are not being taken in ignorance. They are being done in the face of reason. This is not partisanism – this is “know nothing-ism”.

So Happy Happy Birthday, CPSIA! Your work is not done, unfortunately. Our company is still breathing.

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CPSIA – Happy Birthday CPSIA!!!

CPSIA – Extinct Toys, Thanks Congress!

In the latest effort to make the deaf hear and perhaps even to raise the dead, a member of the HTA has reconfigured its website to highlight “Endangered Toys” and “Extinct Toys”, all courtesy of your Federal Government. Thanks, Congress!

There are seemingly buckets of Endangered Toys (currently in stock but can’t be reordered) and Extinct Toys (out of inventory and can’t be reordered) on this website. Ooooh, they’re so dangerous, like “Grandfather Lorenzo” from darkest Germany (endangered) or the “Post Express Van” also from the rogue state of Germany (extinct). Can’t allow children to play with toys from Germany, that’s for sure. . . .

Oddly, there’s no sign that anyone anywhere was ever injured by these toys. They’re just gone now because of the “unintended consequences” of the CPSIA. [Btw that expression, "unintended consequences", makes me want to throw up. Unintended, my ear. This is exactly what was intended, and Dem staffers have repeatedly admitted it.]

The zealots who brought this plague on you have practically grown callouses patting themselves on the back for making your businesses so darned safe. Niggling details like testing costs, loss of valued products, layoffs are all sloughed off as a “necessary” expense in making everyone safer. This flawed assertion is based on the self-evident conclusion that their law made us safer. Obvious, so obvious. I understand their point since I know they can’t comprehend numbers or data. That’s why they’re politicians, after all. WERE they able to tote up a number or two, they might not be so quick to assert that we actually are safer, given that a few tedious hours of analysis would reveal that there are only THREE known (asserted) lead injuries in the last 11 years in this country, and only ONE documented death. That’s it, barely a day’s worth of death and maiming from pools. Hard to reduce injuries from nothing to less than nothing.

It hardly matters, because they cast the die for us, and have no intention to listen to our little problems. This explains why they blandly put out a rule for comment last week which states that our business will have to pay $15 million a year in testing costs. Gotta be safe, ergo if we don’t test the way they say we should, our customers won’t be safe.

In fact, if we DO test as they want us to, I GUARANTEE everyone will be safer than ever. That’s because we will be out of business and they won’t be able to buy any of our products.

Try not to forget to say “thank you” on November 2 to all those people who have stood between the CPSIA and its repair. You should have plenty of time to figure out how to thank the people who are committed to putting you out of business. You sure won’t be selling toys.

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CPSIA – Extinct Toys, Thanks Congress!

CPSIA – Comment Letter on the "15 Month Rule"

August 3, 2010

Todd A. Stevenson
Director, Office of the Secretary
Room 820
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Agency: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

Re: Docket No. CPSC–2010-0038 Testing and Labeling Pertaining to Product Certification.

Dear Mr. Stevenson:

I am hereby submitting comments in response to the Solicitation of Comments on Testing and Labeling Pertaining to Product Certification (Docket No. CPSC–2010–0038) published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2010 (the “Proposed Rule”).

The End of (Business) Life As We Know It:

As I sit down to record my comments on this rule, I take comfort in knowing that the CPSC admits what it is doing here. In a section entitled “Caveats and Possible Market Reactions to Third Party Testing Requirements”, the agency acknowledges the severe impact of its new rule on manufacturers:

a. Significantly increased costs,
b. Incentive to redesign (presumably successful) products,
c. Incentive to reduce features on products,
d. Incentive to eliminate (presumably useful) components in finished goods,
e. Incentive to reduce product lines,
f. Exit the market altogether,
g. Go out of business,
h. Create barriers to entry for future business expansion, especially in specialty markets (non-mass market),
i. Devastate niche markets (noting particularly the “special needs” educational market – sorry, blind kids!), and
j. Incentive to delay or forgo product or manufacturing process improvements (to avoid testing costs).

Quite a stimulus program! Of course, the CPSC knows we can’t meet this challenge alone. In “The Potential Effects of the Proposed Rule”, the agency advises us to hire a few helpers:

a. Lawyers to review CPSC regulations,
b. Engineers and chemists to develop product specifications, conduct tests and design a program for production testing,
c. Statisticians or consultants to determine the frequency, sample size and collection method for production testing, and
d. Technicians, “perhaps working under the supervision of an engineer, chemist or similar professional”, to perform production tests.

This certainly is a Brave New World for us. Luckily we have the CPSC to tell us what to do. Unfortunately, we can’t afford an in-house legal department or teams of engineers, chemists or statisticians. We don’t even have technicians. Incredibly, somehow we bumble on in our blissful, almost charming ignorance, having had only one recall of 130 pieces (we recovered every unit) out of perhaps 1,000,000,000 units sold in the last 26 years. No doubt all the pain the CPSC is promising us will be worth it . . . gotta keep everyone so safe.

Seriously, Is Anyone Listening?

On page 28338 of the Federal Register, the Proposed Rule reproduces the “reasonable testing program” as it stood before the December 10-11, 2009 workshop at the CPSC. The workshop (which we attended with three people who were each asked to appear as a panelist) was ostensibly for the purpose of giving “stakeholder feedback” on the so-called “15 Month Rule” (the Proposed Rule) and the component testing rule (also up for comment today, posted under separate cover). We gave detailed feedback on these rules – none positive – yet the Proposed Rule seems to have preserved the original, deeply-flawed concepts intact.

It is difficult not to conclude that the process of providing feedback to this CPSC is a sham. While Chairman Tenenbaum has long touted her “policy” of seeking feedback from all stakeholders including industry, judging from this rule, the commitment to seeking feedback does not involve maintaining an open mind. It appears that the most likely feedback to be well-received is feedback that ratifies what the agency already plans to do. Other feedback is “wrong”, I guess. I doubt you will find this letter useful.

As time ebbs on and as the drumbeat of a CPSC bent on our destruction becomes more and more clear, the incentive to waste a few days preparing detailed comments also ebbs. Nevertheless, owing to the importance of this Proposed Rule, I am hereby submitting comments. I have no reason to be optimistic that you will consider my point of view with an open mind. This rule has all the earmarks of a fait accompli.

Deeply Flawed Economic Analysis.

The Proposed Rule devotes pages and pages to a tortured analysis of its purported compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (“RFA”). This section of the Proposed Rule is a virtual admission of how unworkable the rule is (and the CPSIA testing scheme in general). As a starting point, the rule states: “The objective of the rule is to reduce the risk of injury from consumer products, especially from products intended for children aged 12 years and younger.” In my recent study of CPSC recall data posted on its website, I have found exactly ONE DEATH and THREE ASSERTED INJURIES from lead or lead-in-paint from 1999-2010. Please keep this statistic in mind as I review the economics of your “injury reduction” effort.

The flaws in the RFA analysis are clear in its discussion of testing costs for toys. The analysis acknowledges that it only accounts for out-of-pocket testing costs, nothing else. Significant additional (and ignored) costs include samples destroyed or damaged in testing, transportation of samples, administrative costs for managing testing, administration costs for managing the testing data, administrative costs for managing recordkeeping, an allocation of general management time, legal expenses relating to testing and so on. Depending on the scale of the business, I estimate that these costs (and distractions) will add 15%-50% to the out-of-pocket testing costs.

The RFA analysis concludes that testing a typical toy will cost $1,262 per product. As an average, this might be a good number for our business. I would note, however, that the Proposed Rule posits that we will test multiple samples, sending in perhaps four separate samples per item to satisfy the bizarre “required high degree of assurance” standard. [The rule states clearly that testing one sample is never enough. Interestingly, we have never had the experience in the last 20 years that multiple safety tests of the same product reveals anything useful other than rapidly approaching poverty.] The rule’s four-sample regime takes the testing cost per toy up to $4,848 (by the calculation in the document) plus another $2,500 for mechanical tests (because the rule posits that we will submit FIFTY samples for mechanical tests). That brings us up to $7,348 per item, plus 54 destroyed samples. This implies a rough “all-in” cost of $10,000 per item. We have 1,500 catalog items in our product line. Without a “reasonable testing program” in place (see below), we will have to test each item annually. This is a cost of $15 million for our company EVERY YEAR. [We also sell custom items, a business that would presumably be terminated by this testing rule. That’s several jobs down the drain.]

Does it surprise you to know that $15 million in testing costs exceeds our annual profit? By far?

The RFA analysis is deeply flawed in other ways, too. The rule duly reports that “[a]ccording to a representative of a trade association, there are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 individual toys on the market.” Oh, really? Perhaps the CPSC shouldn’t have consulted the International Hubcap Manufacturers Association for this information. A quick visit to the Amazon.com website reveals listings of 808,465 toys and games on August 3rd (http://amzn.to/djtTVX). Amazon is a customer of ours – I estimate that they list about one-third of all toys and games sold in the consumer market. Call it 2.5 million toys and games available to consumers in the U.S. But that’s not all – the category also includes specialty items not present on consumer sites. For instance, our industry, the education industry, is largely invisible on consumer sites. I estimate that about one million SKUs are available to purchase at the annual convention of the International Reading Association. Millions of other SKUs are displayed at the national math show, the national science show and the national early childhood show. Add in special needs and other sub-markets – and you get well in excess of 4-5 million toys and games. So the RFA analysis might be off by 100x in its assessment of the toy market ALONE. That’s not close. . . .

The RFA analysis goes on to conclude that the ENTIRE MARKET of products affected by the rule is 100,000–150,000 products. This includes “wearing apparel, accessories, jewelry, juvenile products, children’s furniture, etc.”, plus non-children’s products and other children’s products like ATVs, bikes, bunk beds and so on. It is hard to dignify this ridiculous data with a retort, except to note that it is absurd on its face. The apparel industry ALONE offers as many as 8,000,000 different children’s SKUs for sale. The RFA analysis is fatally flawed.

At $10,000 per SKU, the projected children’s product testing costs will easily exceed $50 billion per year. Remember the 11-year CPSC statistic on lead deaths and injuries – one death and three ASSERTED injuries? [There are no recorded injuries from phthalates or cadmium, by the way.] The 11-year compliance cost will exceed $550 billion (in 2010 dollars), expended by U.S. companies to “reduce” this risk of injury. It would cost a lot less to wrap every American child in bubble wrap.

Small Businesses CANNOT SURVIVE THIS RULE.

Assuming we are supposed to take this rule seriously, the Proposed Rule is perhaps the best friend of the mass market yet invented by an agency seemingly bent on the destruction of the small business community. This letter documents again and again the unrealistic expectations and assumptions made by the authors of this rule with respect to businesses in general and small businesses in particular. Thousands of small businesses of every stripe and color will be affected by this rule. Are you seriously thinking that they will all hire statisticians, chemists and engineers to prepare the reams of data, plans and reports the CPSC expects? Once this massive, herculean effort is completed, who will be safer anyhow? I can think of someone – mass market companies who have been handed a game-ending cost advantage on a silver platter by the CPSC. This, combined with mass market companies’ ability to create certified firewalled in-house labs, favors the big guy dramatically. No wonder the rule states again and again how prejudicial this rule is to small business. The CPSC knows what it’s doing.

Small businesses will strain to even understand what is expected of them. The rule is obtuse, long-winded and full of arcania. Small business people may not have the time or skills to master this complex rule. When the CPSC turns to its attention to enforcement (as promised for 2011) and selects a few small businesses to whip into shape, the market will take note of the pain and a mass exit will result. I realize, however, that Cassandra-like predictions haven’t influenced the CPSC in recent times. One of the Commissioners has even been quoted as saying that “anecdotes aren’t evidence”. It feels like we have to die to prove we were right. A few small businesses might just do that, if the agency waits long enough.

The Commission has asked for feedback on how to address these issues. The complexity of the CPSIA safety rules proves that they are unworkable. To repair this damage, the Commission must ask Congress to restore its ability to assess risk. I am assuming that the Commission would exercise this discretion with more common sense than is embodied in this rule. CPSC rules should be trimmed back to things that MATTER, only. Second, the agency should build its rules and its enforcement activity around DATA. Injury statistics tell the agency what is important. If a particular hazard generates ONE DEATH AND THREE ASSERTED INJURIES OVER 11 YEARS, you can safely relax your rules quite a bit (there are worse problems out there). Education might make a difference, however.

Finally, the Commission should NOT take ANY step if there is EVEN A SHRED OF DOUBT about the impact on small business. Small business is the major jobs creator in America. When you promulgate rules that choke the life out of small business or sharply reduce their incentive to invest, you are killing our economy. You have a heavy responsibility to keep this place running, even if it’s an imperfect world. While it’s sad that a child ever dies, the pain and suffering imposed on countless families from lost jobs, lost capital, lost access to needed products, and so on likely far exceeds it.

Reasonable Testing Program – Busy Work to Keep Us From Running Our Businesses.

The “Reasonable Testing Program” (“RTP”) represents a choice presented to manufacturers of children’s products under this rule. If we endure the expense and disruption of a RTP, we can cut our testing frequency (read, testing costs) in half. A very tempting prospect but the cost of a RTP seems too high, leaving us with a Hobson’s Choice. We can’t afford annual testing and we cannot afford a RTP. What should we do? What will anyone do?

Owing to the burden and complexity of RTPs, I predict EVERY REGULATED COMPANY will violate these rules. Since Ms. Tenenbaum has promised to turn to enforcement in 2011, the CPSC regulators should have a pretty easy time finding juicy targets. Every company will provide wonderful enforcement opportunities.

Although our testing program has been highly-effective over the last 26 years, our program would never meet these standards. We do not maintain the volume of paperwork that the new CPSC rule now requires. We know what we’re doing, but we have not organized our files into a how-to manual. Perhaps the agency thinks every company in the country is an ISO 9001 company. They’re not, and this kind of documentation is rare and breathtakingly expensive to prepare.

Having endured the CPSIA spectacle for two years now, I do not trust the seemingly flexible definition of necessary documentation. The pattern is that these seemingly open-ended terms (which may or may not describe our current recordkeeping) will mature into something rigid down the line. Even if they don’t, we still face the risk that we will not measure up to the expectations of the CPSC enforcement officer at the time of reckoning. The feeling that we are being set up is inescapable. As noted above, given our record of performance, the agency should have NO concerns about how we go about our business. Nonetheless, I feel certain that these rules will bite me in the future.

Sample selection under the rule should not be based on any statistical formula (per the baffling presentation of Dr. Michael Greene at the December 2009 workshop). If the overall safety results of the company are strong, the choice of samples by the company or factories should be presumed compliant without further inquiry. Random selection (taking one off the shelf . . . without the assistance of a statistician) works just fine in our experience, and there is no evidence that testing multiple samples will accomplish anything but will certainly raise costs. Better sampling won’t lower injury rates that already approach zero.

We currently do not use production testing and have zero production testing plans in place. With one recall in 26 years, I would assert this kind of testing is superfluous in our business and basically useless from a safety standpoint. It will significantly raise costs, however. The tedious exercise of preparing a pallet load of production testing plans to meet the new requirements is just plain busy work. One must ask what the CPSC was thinking when it penned this description of a production testing plan: “A production testing plan may include recurring testing or the use of process management techniques such as control charts, statistical process control programs, or failure modes and effects analysis (FMEAs) designed to control potential variations in product manufacturing that could affect the product’s ability to comply with the applicable rules, bans, standards or regulations.” Fancy words but . . . what planet are they from?

The requirement to list all the tests applicable to our items, again and again, to satisfy the RTP requirements is typical of mindless busy work asked of us. Does the CPSC think this will make ANY difference? Most businesses confirm safety tests with their testing lab partners anyhow. More bureaucracy, taken to new heights.

We don’t have any remedial plans in place either. We are quite familiar with how to appropriately resolve compliance and quality issues, and have never had a problem with regulators in the exercise of our business judgment. The requirement to prepare a detailed written plan, just in case we have another recall in the next 26 years, is pure officiousness. This is yet another waste of our time, our money, our resources and our intellect.

The recordkeeping requirements of a RTP is well beyond our ability or interest to preserve for 1500 products produced in thousands of lots over the course of a year. Taking a “Dear Diary” approach to how we source, test, move, remediate, repair, investigate and otherwise manage children’s products is completely unreasonable. This is especially ridiculous given our track record.

The Commission has asked what a RTP might cost us. I have a hard time estimating it because all the fun in our business would be gone. If we had to endure the bureaucratic nightmare this rule envisions, if anyone actually expects us to do all this to make simple plastic toys for schools, I would have to seriously consider our alternatives. So it might cost us our entire company. That’s the whole enchilada, guys.

Remember, we don’t have to make children’s products, nor do we have to stick around for the next act of this tragedy. If the CPSC persists in ruining what was once a rather safe industry with a strong track record, the cost will be the entire market for children’s products.

Is that a high enough price to give you pause? I know, I know, more anecdotes . . . .

The Requirement to Document Procedures against Undue Influence is Unreasonable.

The “Undue Influence Procedures” requirement (“UIP”) is essentially a requirement to document efforts to avoid fraud. If you’re not inclined to commit fraud, there’s little reason to set out your plan to not commit fraud. Here’s our current policy – “Don’t break the law or commit fraud”. This has worked well for us, as we have never exerted undue influence in the last 26 years and have no plans to start now.

I am really sorry that there are bad people in the world, some small number of which may have at one time attempted to exert undue influence over one or more test labs. Perhaps the CPSC should concern themselves with the bad guys and leave the rest of us alone.

Material Change Rules Place Too Much Risk on Manufacturers.

The CPSC’s rule on when to test after a “material change” is sufficiently open-ended to render the judgment on when to test fairly obvious – ALWAYS TEST. Deep within the Proposed Rule, Section 1107.10(b)(2)(ii) instructs “A material change is any change in the product’s design, manufacturing process, or sourcing of component parts that a manufacturer exercising due care knows, or should know, could affect the product’s ability to comply with the rules . . . .” “Due care” is defined as “the degree of care that a prudent and competent person engaged in the same line of business or endeavor would exercise under similar circumstances.”

In other words, the agency’s 20-20 hindsight can construct a case for testing for a material change for just about anything that “might” or “could” affect results or that a hypothetical “prudent person” might think of investigating. Of course, this issue only comes up in the context of an injury or a recall, so what are the odds that any judgment to NOT test would withstand inquiry by an angry CPSC? Zilch. So either you always test or you take a big risk. This is completely unfair and unreasonable.

Testing Frequency Must Be Left to the Manufacturer and to the Market.

A rule requiring manufacturers to test according to these standards every year is going to kill us and many other businesses. No one can afford the testing scheme outlined above, we least of all. If we must test according to these standards, we will be out of business quickly. It is equally unrealistic to imagine that testing cost savings from maintaining a RTP will hold much appeal since that project is so wasteful and gargantuan. Of course, a firewalled in-house lab would be nice for all of us small businesses, but that’s unrealistic, too (not to mention undesirable). We have no realistic way to moderate these costs. Please see my other August 3 comment letter for an explanation of why I believe component and composite testing will likewise provide no relief.

Testing is supposed to assure product quality and compliance. If we have a good, long term record of safety, why can’t we just carry on as we have, and deal with issues as they arise? That worked for 26 years. The new way is just unaffordable.

The “High Degree of Assurance” Standard is Unreasonable and Not Derived from the CPSIA.

The rule seems to conclude that a “high degree of assurance” is a necessary element of any “reasonable testing program”. The importance of the “reasonable testing program” which was incorporated into the CPSIA as an alternative to third party testing for non-children’s products, has been imputed to the children’s product area as a way to reduce testing frequency, and with it, the “high degree of assurance” standard (“HDA”) was likewise imputed. Thus, sliding down this slippery slope, the HDA standard has become part and parcel of the “15 Month Rule”. Abracadabra.

The Commission has requested feedback on the meaning of the definition of HDA in Section 1107.2. Happily, the agency has rejected a strict statistical interpretation requiring “95% probability” of compliance. What should the definition be interpreted to mean? The “high degree of assurance” should be based on an overall assessment of the safety record of the company. It should NOT be based on the results of an individual product, even if recalled or deemed dangerous. In our case, we have done business for 26 years, had one recall of 130 pieces of out of about 1,000,000,000 pieces sold. All of these units were recovered. Thus, we believe there is zero probability that a recalled product is in the market. Our historical recall rate is approximately 130/1,000,000,000 or 0.00001% over a 26-year period.

With this record over so many years, our company should be deemed to have satisfied this HDA requirement and be endorsed as having a reasonable testing program without further inquiry. And if we DON’T deserve the HDA designation, then the CPSC should articulate what level of safety achievement would earn the designation.

Notably, the entire children’s product industry also meets this requirement. Of the 899 recalls of children’s products from 1999-2010, only one death and three asserted injuries from lead were recorded by the CPSC. Thus, the probability of being injured from lead by a children’s product is nearly zero, given that literally billions of children’s products are sold every year. [The apparel and footwear industry claims annual sales of about 4 billion units ALONE.] Industry recall rates are likewise well under 1% per annum. With injury statistics and recall rates in hand, the CPSC should GREATLY loosen the strictures of the “high degree of assurance” standard to focus its resources on activities that might actually injure someone.

One-to-One Product Testing Will Punish the Smallest Companies.

The prophylactic approach to testing adopted by the CPSC will inevitably put many small or micro businesses into bankruptcy, or drive them into unregulated markets to avoid the CPSIA’s wasteful bureaucratic costs. If the law does not permit the agency to adopt sensible rules that allow businesses to manage their compliance risk as best they can (where the standards remain in place, but the government stops trying to tell businesses HOW to comply), then the Commission must finally tell Mr. Waxman what he doesn’t want to hear – that his law is broken and can’t be fixed. [Notably, these mini businesses most at risk have an exemplary record of safety and very low recall rates. NOTHING is gained by rules that crush the little guy.]

We in the small business community have suffered for two solid years while regulators have sought any possible way to avoid delivering this “unpleasant” message. I get the impression that the demise of our businesses would not be too great a cost for the agency to incur to avoid telling Congress what it doesn’t want to hear. If the Commission is genuinely interested in a fix, it must take action with Congress. I do not believe the agency can devise sensible regulations to fix this problem short of a legislative change.

Ban on Retesting Will Unnecessarily Create Crises at Small Businesses.

In our experience, test labs are neither infallible nor definitive in their understanding of U.S. safety laws and regulations. It is not unusual to experience failed test reports for reasons besides safety problems. In addition, children’s products are not so pure and perfect in their composition that every test produces the same result. The CPSC itself instructed manufacturers to audit their test labs in the ironically-dated April 1, 2010 version of the Proposed Rule in response to industry complaints that test results varied from test lab to test lab. By forbidding retesting, the Proposed Rule removes discretion and appropriate problem resolution techniques from a commonplace quality event. You don’t need to manage a very large portfolio of products before the probability of an ordinary course testing problem rises exponentially. This is a matter of mathematics. If retesting is banned, the CPSC is legislating a crisis of the week.

Again, CPSC injury data informs us that the nature of the problem is extremely modest. Historical injury rates are VERY low. This retesting rule is completely unnecessary and penal to all companies except perhaps mass market companies with greater resources. Small businesses won’t have teams of engineers or statisticians around to save the day. Many small businesses will naively call the CPSC for “help”, only to find out that they have created a worse crisis. Some small businesses may miss this point in the Proposed Rule and continue to retest, only to be punished later when the CPSC finds evidence of retesting at the time of a recall. Is this really how you want to regulate?

I would note that the justification for all this is bad acts: “[Retesting] may tempt unscrupulous parties to attempt to ‘test the product into compliance’. . . .” To my knowledge, this behavior has little precedence and even so, it is an abuse that can be dealt with other ways. If honorable and law-abiding companies use retesting to resolve honest problems, no harm is being done. Punishing good guys because you are afraid that otherwise bad guys might benefit is excessive and inappropriately harsh.

The 10,000 Piece Limit for One-Time Testing is Arbitrary and Unfair.

The CPSC has failed to persuade that the 10,000 limit is an appropriate break point for testing. First of all, the limit is cumulative, not related to sales in a period or per annum. Second, the threshold bears no relationship to risk of injury. In other words, it’s completely arbitrary. Why 10,000? Why not? In my view, that’s not enough to justify this rule. Many of the micro businesses that might benefit from this rule have NEVER had a recall. These are the people this rule will restrict. And the logic of this is . . . what, exactly?

Even more remarkable is the rule’s insistence that these low volume items be tested annually after passing the 10,000 piece threshold. Small companies will never have a RTP so annual testing (or more frequently, if for instance the item is hand-assembled) will be mandated. Consider a product selling 2,000 piece per year. Under these rules, the incentive to drop it once it crosses the 10,000 threshold will be powerful. This reminds me of the incentive on small businesses to not hire a 26th employee to avoid an onslaught of Obamacare obligations. A tacit cap on sales will be imposed by this rule. Nice!

The solution to this problem is to require one-time testing before sale, and thereafter according to the business judgment of the manufacturer. Remember, the retailers that buy from the manufacturer will also have something to say about testing frequency, too. Not all solutions are better if imposed by the government.

Alternative Testing Technologies.

The ability to test at low cost with XRF is attractive. For our business, it is tempting to use an XRF gun but for two reasons: (a) cost, and (b) health risk. XRF guns cost $30,000 each and have high annual maintenance costs (several thousand dollars a year). We might need several guns to manage our inventory volumes, a very costly prospect. XRF guns are portable x-ray machines. Notwithstanding the assurance of XRF gun manufacturers, I am quite reluctant to place an x-ray machine in the hands of a warehouse worker in our facility. This is an invitation to disaster. We likewise have no interest in hiring a highly-paid technician to wield the gun, or technicians to wield the guns. In any event, we cannot expose our employees to a possible risk of x-ray genetic damage. I am surprised that the CPSC doesn’t take this risk more seriously. Is lead a worse problem than x-rays?

In any event, I fail to understand what would be accomplished by a XRF solution for small businesses. The process of XRF testing may be inexpensive, but would be disruptive. In any event, I don’t see a connection to safety so I prefer a solution that restores sanity to our safety practices. Burning in a wasteful and disruptive process will only bog down our economy and our competitiveness. Until the CPSC can point to a risk factor relating to the little guys, one cannot rationally conclude that XRF makes this regulation better, just somewhat less worse.

In sum, the Proposed Rule is a dangerous rule with the acknowledged prospect of doing severe market damage. The CPSC knows this, having admitted it in writing in the text of the rule. There is no excuse to push forward with a defective rule on this scale. The Commission must talk honestly with Congress . . . before it’s too late.

Thank you for considering my views on this important subject.

Sincerely,

Richard Woldenberg
Chairman
Learning Resources, Inc.
380 North Fairway Drive
Vernon Hills, IL 60061

Read more here:
CPSIA – Comment Letter on the "15 Month Rule"

CPSIA – Thumbscrews, Jobs and You

This week we learned that the G-20 nations established near term fiscal deficit reduction as a twin priority with economic growth. The U.S. says it will reduce its fiscal deficit from this year’s breathtaking 10.2% of GDP to a mere 4.2% in 2013 (that goal translates to about $600 billion in red ink, more or less). This fantastic goal is apparently based on the premise that Mr. Obama’s big spending plans are going to stimulate so much growth that the United States will literally grow away from this problem.

[Please don't bring up the additional expense of new federal entitlements like health care reform - I believe the plan is for magic or heaven above to provide those multi-billions.]

Rosy scenario? To my way of thinking, it is delusional government or at least government in a deep state of denial. Those of us suffering from the CPSIA debacle know why – Obama’s new withering regulations are strangling businesses and the markets. The environment created by these awful rules are killing jobs everywhere. Mr. Obama’s apparent belief that we need a lot more government will render his plan to reduce deficits moot. The passage of time will reveal that thumbscrews are just not a good jobs program.

Consider the trajectory of our companies’ employment ranks over the past four years. Our headcount reduction in 2007 was 3.2%, 2008 was 15.9% and 2009 was 6.6%. There were two big factors in those reductions – a really lousy economy and a really terrible law affecting children’s products. But what about the glorious recovery sparked by our wonderful government? Please note that our businesses are presumably a “beneficiary” of much of that largess because of our dependence on educational sales – schools received MANY billions under the stimulus spending plans. Revenues for first quarter 2010 rose sharply in many industries (an easy comparison to 1Q 2009 but up is up!), so what about jobs at our companies? January – May: our employee headcount shrunk by 2.3%.

We are still not creating net jobs. While we pour endless resources into regulatory compliance, none of which is producing a scintilla of results (and certainly not any sales), we are allowing attrition to lower our costs. We have only so much money – and the government has plans for us to waste it in large quantities. The result – fewer and fewer jobs and a very difficult environment to create jobs. Our total four-year job loss is 25.7%. Some job program. . . .

Mr. Obama prefers to look the other way. While the WSJ notes that “an influential group of U.S. corporate leaders this week accused Mr. Obama of retarding growth with a slew of new taxes and rules”, Mr. Obama simply noted at the news conference at the close of the G-20 meeting “We must recognize that our fiscal health tomorrow will rest in no small measure on our ability to create jobs today.” Time for a hearing test?

And if it weren’t bad enough that Obama endorsed a wishful thinking plan to reduce the deficit through high spending while at the very same time creating the most hostile business environment in recent memory, there is another shoe to drop . . . on you: “President Obama said that next year he would present ‘very difficult choices’ to the country in an effort to meet deficit goals. The president cited his disappointment with the U.S. tax code. ‘Next year, when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step up, ’cause I’m calling their bluff.’”

What you aren’t spending on new health care costs or CPSIA compliance, the government plans to take away from you. And by the way, create some jobs while you’re at it.

I cannot help but connect the national issues being discussed with our own travails. We are being sent to the gallows by a truly unconcerned CPSC Democratic leadership. They assert that they are making everyone “safer” without looking at data or considering the serious problems being created in the market. Warnings, dire warnings backed up with data and reason, are falling on deaf ears – it’s as if the Dems are daring us to go out of business to prove our point. Theirs is a catastrophic policy but it seems as though they are bound and determined to see it through. This is terrible news for you, for your customers and suppliers and for our country.

Humpty Dumpty was never the same after he fell over, as we all know. I am committed to prevent this disaster, notwithstanding an uncaring Dem-controlled Congress and Dem-controlled CPSC. I am working for change in Congressional leadership come November, and I URGE YOU to raise money and commit time to candidates offering to help us reform this terrible law. The people who did this to you and me should pay with their jobs. Soon.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Thumbscrews, Jobs and You

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.

Read more here:
CPSIA – CPSC Sets Its Sights On the Real Menace to Society . . . Buttons

CPSIA – At First, I Thought The Onion Was Trying to be Funny. . . .

I think this is a parody, not a real news report. At least I think so. . . .

Read more here:
CPSIA – At First, I Thought The Onion Was Trying to be Funny. . . .

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