CPSIA – Participate in the AAFA Email Campaign to AMEND THE CPSIA!

The American Apparel and Footwear Association sent out the following request to the thousands of affected companies and individuals concerned about Congress’ inaction on the CPSIA.  Please show your support by sending in an email in support of ECADA (the pending CPSIA Amendment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee). Thank you! “Hi.  At some point over the past few years, you have contacted Congress to urge relief from the crushing burdens of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) using the legislative action center that we host on the AAFA website. Your advocacy has proved critical in raising Congressional awareness of the many problems that have characterized the CPSIA so far. But we still need your help. Urgently! A key House committee is currently considering amendments to the CPSIA that would provide relief in a number of areas, including testing, inaccessibility for phthalates, very small business, used products, ATVs and bikes, and retroactive application of the lead rules. This amendment ( H.R. 1939 ) will make our product safety system operate smarter while making sure that small businesses and other product safety stakeholders don’t get smothered in stifling regulations, extraordinary testing costs, and burdensome paperwork. We can’t let serious product safety risks be ignored while we endlessly test safe products and drive companies out of the children’s product business. This amendment will not be considered unless Members of Congress hear from their constituents – you and your neighbors – demanding immediate action. Help us bring commonsense back to our product safety rules. Time for action is now. Your voice matters. Please take a moment and send an email to your elected House and Senate members urging them to swiftly pass an amendment to the CPSIA. Please urge your family and friends to contact Congress. Click here to make your voice heard and help get action on this important issue. Thanks. Steve Lamar Executive Vice President American Apparel and Footwear Association Please see below some important resources: – Copy of NAM ad that appeared in the Hill Newspaper urging action – Op-Ed by Product Safety Expert Eric Stone describing the CPSIA Amendment – Editorial from The Wall Street Journal – Read ECADA ”

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CPSIA – Participate in the AAFA Email Campaign to AMEND THE CPSIA!

CPSIA – The CPSC Finds a New Way to Scr*w You

The banal and almost unnoticed adoption of ASTM F963 as a mandatory standard at the July 20th Commission meeting seems so innocuous.  Is it, really? Commissioner Nancy Nord points out that this decision was a compromise of a Hobson’s Choice nature: “I joined in the majority’s vote only because of a negotiated agreement that we would stay enforcement of the testing mandate through December 31, 2011. Had we not reached this compromise, the testing requirement would have landed in the market’s lap in mid-October, just as stores are making their final preparations for the holiday season and small toy manufacturers are at the peak of filling orders. While I am relieved that companies will now have some time to find their way through the maze we have created, I have major concerns about why we are rushing to impose testing requirements to a standard we know is about to change.” What was that last bit? Ummm, well, the ASTM is actually updating the F963 standard right now.  It will be done by year end. and as a result of the CPSC’s wondrous action this week, it will be a mandatory rule to test to an obsolete standard on January 1, 2012 – and probably necessary to test to the new standard, too!  Doesn’t that sound great?!  Now you can deliver TWO test reports when one might have sufficed.  But think of how much safer kids will be if you produce two almost identical passing test reports rather than just one.  Just think of it . . . . Ms. Nord explains:  “When the stay of enforcement is lifted on January 1, 2012, most likely we will be requiring testing to an outdated standard. This puts manufacturers and retailers potentially in the situation of having to do redundant or perhaps irrelevant testing – testing mandated by the CPSC to the old standard and testing mandated by the marketplace to the new standard. Because we are taking the position that these testing requirements are rules and can only be changed (after August, 2011) by notice and comment rulemaking, there is virtually no way to get the new notice of requirements in place and labs accredited before the standard becomes effective. This puts toy manufacturers in an untenable position. Our response is that we will address these problems as they come up but, of course, in the real world, this is no response at all to the potential for confusion we are creating.” I no longer have a sense of humor, so you can rest assured that I am NOT making this up. Why the heck was the Commission in such a big, hot hurry to get this done?  Again, Ms. Nord explains: “We are able to issue this NOR [notice of requirements] without following the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), with its notice and comment requirement, because the CPSIA allows avoiding the APA until August 14, 2011. After that, we must ask for and consider public input. Therefore, by putting out the NOR today, (1) we did not need to ask for and consider public comment, but (2) we did need to stay enforcement to prevent an unnecessary economic train wreck for the toy industry immediately prior to the holidays.” Does anyone remember that Bob Adler has said publicly at several Commission meetings and hearings that he hates stays and doesn’t want to vote for any more stays?  So this vote avoids a public hearing and public comment (takes time, increases scrutiny, can limited flexibility) and it also avoids another stay process to extend this misery.   The Dems on the Commission almost always vote as a pack.  Can you connect the dots? Not surprisingly, Nancy Nord can connect dots: “However, if we waited, as sound regulatory policy would direct, we would have had to seek comments from the public. Apparently this public input process is too much of a burden for the agency, so if we have the opportunity to skirt the requirement we are more than happy to do that. Like a teenager with dad’s car keys, we want to squeeze in as much joy-riding as we can before the curfew hits. Our hasty decision does not achieve a net safety benefit, but it unfortunately does make things much more difficult than they need to be for the companies that are trying to understand and follow the law. . . . With its vote today, the CPSC has once again opted for rash action over rational action, to the quick and easy over the thoughtful and transparent. We know how to do better rulemaking; unfortunately, the majority today decided to push the ‘quick’ button instead of the ‘pause and think’ button.” Another Commission decision, another shellacking of the poor fools left serving children’s markets.  After three years of this torture, I am just not surprised.  When will our country wake up and notice this travesty?

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CPSIA – The CPSC Finds a New Way to Scr*w You

CPSIA – Trip Down Memory Lane (WSJ Editorials on CPSIA)

There have been nine editorials by The Wall Street Journal against the CPSIA.  I thought you might enjoy seeing them all in one place.  Below you will find links to all nine editorials, with a short highlight from each one. The more things change, the more they stay the same . . . . First Editorial (January 14, 2009):  Pelosi’s Toy Story “The damage comes from new rules governing lead in children’s products. After last year’s scare over contaminated toys made in China, Congress leapt in to require all products aimed at children under 12 years old to be certified as safe and virtually lead-free by independent testing. The burden may be manageable for big manufacturers and retailers that can absorb the costs of discarded inventory and afford to hire more lawyers. Less likely to survive are hundreds of small businesses and craftspeople getting hit with new costs in a down economy.” Second Editorial (February 6, 2009) Toys for Congress New lead rules hit next Tuesday. Whammo. “CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord has noted that the law has created ‘chaos and confusion,’ and as if to prove her point, yesterday New York federal Judge Paul G. Gardephe ruled that the law’s limits on a plasticizer known as “phthalates” should apply to existing inventory just as lead standards do — overturning a CPSC ruling to the contrary. That makes it even clearer that Congress needs to fix its own mess.  Trouble is, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heavily invested in the fiasco. On passing the misguided law in August, she proclaimed that ‘with this legislation . . . we will be removing these products from the shelves.’ Taking store owners and toy entrepreneurs with her.” Third Editorial (March 30, 2009) Pelosi’s Library Quarantine The CPSC is left cleaning up the House Speaker’s messy child-safety law. “Democrats in Congress have leapt to criticize acting CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord, in hopes President Obama will replace her. But the real culprit here isn’t the CPSC, which is overwhelmed with requests from manufacturers trying to make sense of the chaos that Congress created. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman has dismissed efforts to improve the law, claiming the real problem is that “misinformation has spread” about the impact on businesses.” Fourth Editorial (April 3, 2009)   Toys R Congress Ruining the kids motorcycle business   “The multibillion-dollar children’s motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle industry has been clobbered. Kids motorcross racing has boomed in recent years in rural and Western states. And the regulators at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have decided that virtually all of these youth vehicles violate the new standards because of lead in the brakes, tire valves and gears. They’ve ordered motorcycle dealers to stop selling them, putting hundreds of dealers and the entire motorcross industry in a depression. With one stroke of the regulatory pen, an estimated $100 million of inventory can’t be sold, and the industry loss may reach $1 billion.”   Fifth Editorial (August 11, 2009)   Consumer Product Destruction Congress’s lead in toys panic is set to ruin more businesses.   “Jewelry makers now join the legions of other businesses on the hook for millions of dollars in lost sales, inventory or testing costs despite products that pose little to no risk of lead poisoning to children. In the spring, thrift-store operators like Goodwill and the Salvation Army predicted that without regulatory relief they would have to destroy more than $100 million of inventory. Toy stores expected some $600 million in playthings that would have to be trashed and another $2 billion in losses across the industry. Motorcycle and ATV makers predicted total losses and business disruptions around $1 billion. Children’s clothing stores have suffered huge losses, with Gymboree losing 40% of its market value overnight after reporting losses related to the House’s lead-paint panic.”   Sixth Editorial (November 7, 2009)   Congress’s Brass Knuckles Another casualty of the lead toy ‘safety’ law.   “CPSC Commissioner Anne Northrop noted that the decision not to grant a brass exemption shows that ‘the Commission does not believe there is any [flexibility] written into the law.’ Without action from Congress to address the chaos it created, Ms. Northrop said, ‘More small businesses will be forced to shut down.’ CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum has insisted that changing the law would be ‘premature.’ Yet it has already been more than a year of bedlam for manufacturers and retailers negotiating these rules.”   Seventh Editorial (April 6, 2010)   Waxman’s Lead Poison A fix of a bad law that is no fix at all. “Mr. Waxman is insisting that any product applying for an exemption would still be subject to a three-pronged test to determine whether stripping lead from the product is ‘practicable or technologically feasible,’ whether a product might end up in a child’s mouth and whether its exemption would affect public safety. In a response, CPSC Commissioner Nancy Nord explained that since all three tests have to be met for a product to qualify, ‘the exception is as empty as the exception for no absorption of any lead. Such a provision does not really help anyone.’ . . . If Mr. Waxman wants to enhance Congress’s original creation, he should start by letting product safety regulators consider whether products are safe.” Eighth Editorial   (March 11, 2011) Get the Lead Out, Sir Nutty test standards give Obama a real chance to help business. “The law also requires the CPSC to propose the parameters of a third-party lead testing regime, but the issue is so mired in complexity that the commission has yet to set those standards. Under the proposed version of this so-called ’15 Month Rule,’ Learning Resources Chairman Rick Woldenberg has estimated that supplying multiple testing samples on each of his company’s toys and products will cost his company some $15 million per year. . . . At a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee in February, California Democrat Henry Waxman defended the law as ‘necessary to protect kids and families across the country.’ We wonder how he figures that, since the incidence of lead poisoning from toys made by domestic manufacturers is nil.” Ninth Editorial (July 20, 2011) Toying With Deregulation Another agency ignores Mr. Obama’s executive order. “Here’s a question for White House regulatory czar Cass Sunstein: Do Presidential executive orders mean anything? Only last week President Obama asked independent agencies to examine existing rules and get rid of the duds, but nobody is listening. . . . Mr. Obama’s recent executive order is voluntary, but the President told agency heads that getting rid of red tape was an opportunity to ‘forge a 21st-century regulatory system that makes our economy stronger and more competitive.’ Perhaps Mr. Sunstein will tell toy makers it’s the thought that counts.”

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CPSIA – Trip Down Memory Lane (WSJ Editorials on CPSIA)

CPSIA – Fait Accompli

Tomorrow the stage is set for the ultimate triumph of the Waxmanis:  the predicted approval of the 100 ppm lead standard by 3-2 party line vote.  The three Democrats will express regret, saying that Congress forced them to do it, and calling on Congress to let them make this standard prospective only.  They will no doubt also assert that this is good for all of us, given that “there is no safe level of lead”, that old chestnut unsupported by any injury data. No doubt the 100 ppm lead limit will fix all of these imaginary problems.  The Republicans will note the pointlessness of it all, and remind us of the cost of the provision.  Jobs will be lost.  The Republicans will be right, but the Dems have a political agenda to implement, and you will be sacrificed.  Mr. Obama’s Executive Order will not give the Dems pause. After three years, I am numb to this behavior.  The Dem Commissioners are and have always been beyond reach, unimpressed by reason or data.  That comes from a strong conviction of the correctness of their position with no need to reconsider.  As Bob Adler’s testimony at the Oversight hearing on July 7th indicates, the Dems are ever ready to defend the CPSIA faith.  [Check out the testimony given in questioning by the estimable Jan Schakowsky.]  Data, schmata. For those of you who have expended energy, or committed resources, to providing information to the CPSC after three years on this provision (comment letters, testimony, etc.), please note that it was all a set-up.  The decision facing the Commission is whether the 100 ppm lead level is “technologically feasible”. The legislative definition of this term of art does NOT take into consideration cost, perhaps because every life is precious and of infinite value.  It does not matter what it costs to comply, only whether it is somehow possible.  CPSC Staff confirms that everything can be made without lead using this definition however absurd.  So the Dems have no reason to vote against the new standard.   No reason . . . .   Consider the views of the American Apparel and Footwear Association in a letter dated July 11, 2011 on this topic: “We strongly urge the Commission to declare that it is not technologically feasible to meet the 100ppm standard for the simple reasons that:  (a) it is impossible to meet a standard retroactively; (b) compliance cannot be assured because of continued issues with material variability, especially with metals; (c) compliance is complicated by the regulatory uncertainty generated by the technological unfeasibility issue as well as the ongoing delay in the so-called “15-month rule”; (d) the new standard will impose significant costs on manufacturers, costs which disproportionately affect smaller companies; and (e) inter-lab variability, especially at the lower limits, make consistent compliance impossible.” Details, details – the Dems DON’T CARE.  Tomorrow the Commission will enact an egregiously out-of-whack rule from a cost-benefit standpoint a mere two days after Obama ordered the CSPC by name to review all rules for being overly burdensome.  Yawn.  After three years of this, what else would you expect?

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CPSIA – Fait Accompli

CPSIA – The Axis of Misinformation

CPSC Spokesman Scott Wolfson wants you to read an article: Scott_Wolfson: If #opengov #gov20 are important to u, pls read this LATimes column: http://t.co/MrrgGwO #SaferProducts.gov #cpsc  [From Scott Wolfson's Twitter feed] Wolfson refers you to a hatchet job by David Lazarus of the LA Times  on the CPSIA Product Database. I have taken issue with the blather emitted from Lazarus’ PC in the past.  In his latest example of irresponsible journalism, endorsed by the CPSC, Lazarus displays his studied ignorance of the issues relating to the database. His lack of research certainly didn’t prevent him from making declarative statements. Wolfson wanted to be sure you didn’t miss it. Lazarus ponders what the issues could possibly be with the controversial database:  ” You’ve got to wonder why businesses are fighting so hard to keep this resource away from consumers. Is it because their fears are justified that we’ll misuse this tool (all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding)? Or is it because the last thing they want is a consuming public armed with the latest and most thorough information on the safety of their goods? And if it’s the latter, you might now ask, what are they trying to hide? ” I cannot think of any objections to the database other than self-interest, can you?  It’s all a conspiracy, as anyone on the Left can tell you.  Businesses have so much to hide!  And did you know that evil billionaires are against the database?  Lazarus sorts it all out:  “Koch Industries — run by billionaires Charles and David Koch, who are active in conservative causes — also reported spending more than $200,000 lobbying against creation of the database.”  Lazarus asserts that it is significant that Members of Congress aligned against the database also received campaign contributions from businesses.  [Can you find a single member of Congress who has NOT taken contributions from businesses or business people?  Just curious.]  Lazarus notes that both Reps. Emerson and Pompeo received contributions from business people who are ALSO against the database.  It’s all making sense now . . . . Perhaps it was an oversight, but Lazarus fails to mention that the folks on the Left who so vigorously defend the database as implemented have been richly financed by TRIAL LAWYERS.  Rep. Henry Waxman raised more than $165,000 in 2010 from lawyers (11% of his total raise).  In fact, his top PAC contributor was the American Association for Justice , a group of plaintiff’s attorneys actively opposing tort reform.  He also received individual contributions from AAJ lobbyists .  Rep. Jan Schakowsky raised a mere $224,000 from lawyers in 2010 (about 15% of her raise).  Ditto for AAJ support.  Poke around on OpenSecrets.org to check out your other favorites in Congress.  It goes without saying that the support Waxman, Schakowsky and their ilk lavish on the database has NOTHING to do with campaign contributions by trial lawyers.   It all comes from the heart, cloaked in white.  Any idea who pays the bill for all the litigation initiated by the AAJ and its members?  Hint:  it’s not Waxmn or Schakowsky. No Lazarus article would be complete without the quotes of Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America.  The strangely influential Weintraub is the Left’s favorite mouthpiece on the CPSIA.  Here she tries a new angle to preserve the database, the “sunk cost” argument:  “The thing that’s so insidious is that the database is already up and running,  This would basically waste all the money and resources that have gone into creating the database.”  Insidious! That thrifty Rachel, she literally weeps over government waste.  Of course, the database is not controversial simply because it exists; the principal reason the issue lingers on is that Lefties like Weintraub and Bob Adler insisted on unfair administrative procedures that create unreasonable risks for manufacturers unrelated to actual product hazards, like brand slander, misidentified products, lack of accountability by complaint filers, manipulation of civil disputes and unbalanced data creating misleading commercial impressions. These problems are well-documented but have apparently escaped Lazarus’ beady-eyed (in)attention. The Axis of Misinformation is at work here.  You have the ignorant journalist (perhaps intentionally so or at a minimum, biased against manufacturers and disinterested in their POV), the shrill consumer “advocate” and the self-serving agency spokesman whose job is to manipulate how we feel about the CPSC (irrespective of reality or the “truth”).  CPSC as PR agency is offensive to me.  That’s not its function and besides, I think it’s dangerous to me as a consumer.  As a practitioner noted this week in private correspondence:  ” CPSC stacks the deck by creating alarming recall notices that do not really put hazards in perspective for readers, nor does the agency give consumers enough information to determine whether the amounts that they wind up indirectly paying for the costs of recalls are justified, especially when those costs are spread out to affect products that have not been recalled and present no risk. Hazards and risks are generally overstated, and you will never see any mention of costs to the public even though, as we all know, there is, after all, no free lunch .” It is worth noting that I hear complaints from the CPSC through various channels when they object to the portrayals in this space.  It’s so unfair that we have freedom of speech in this country.  No doubt that makes the job of regulating all of us idiots so much more difficult.  Still, if I get to exercise my freedom of speech, so does Wolfson.  Go ahead and read Lazarus.  It is informative in a way.  It will take you less than 30 seconds to recognize the shoddy journalism and the slanted, biased presentation of a one-sided story.  Consider the source of this lead – Scott Wolfson and the CPSC.  As I said, it’s informative.

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CPSIA – The Axis of Misinformation

CPSIA – American Job Creators (Remember When We Did That?)

The House Majority Leader wants to know how the CPSC and the CPSIA are affecting your business.  They have a website set up for you to download everything you know about the misconceived CPSIA and resulting three year nightmare.  The first agency listed on the web page is the CPSC. Have some fun with this!  Feel free to post your insights here, too.

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CPSIA – American Job Creators (Remember When We Did That?)

CPSIA – Hypocrisy on Display

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum was home in South Carolina last week and made an appearance to commemorate a new State ATV safety law known as ” Chandler’s Law “.  This law is supported, even encouraged, by the ATV industry.  Notes Paul Vitrano of the SVIA, “Chandler’s Law is a major step in the right direction. It’s something to be celebrated and we extend sincere thanks to everyone involved in its enactment. But there’s much more work to be done in South Carolina and all over America. ATVs are safe when used properly, but they are not toys. No responsible parent would hand the keys to the family car over to their child and send them on their way.” [Emphasis added] ATVs are not toys.  But ATVs are regulated by the CPSIA as though they are toys.  Notably, as a consequence of the CPSIA, access to youth-model ATVs has been all but eliminated .  Incredibly, there is still NOT ONE test lab certified by the CPSC to test ATVs for compliance either.  Testimony to this effect was given at the February 16th CPSC hearing at which I appeared.  Jay Howell of the CPSC acknowledged that the expense of testing ATVs cannot apparently be recovered by labs because there are so few youth model ATVs left on the market.  No lab wants to invest for testing at a loss.  The market speaks?  The absence of youth model ATVs from the market also means that they are not being rented out.  Rental and sales are the same thing under the CPSIA.  They’re gone. Interestingly, Chandler’s Law prohibits children under 16 from riding adult-sized ATVs.   If you can connect even two dots, you will realize that this is a tacit ban on children riding ATVs.  Period.  This is the secret agenda of the consumer group zealots like the former AAP majordomo Cindy Pelligrini as she admitted at a meeting of stakeholders with the House Energy and Commerce Committee staff on January 6, 2011.   So in other words, the consumer groups have a political agenda that they cannot accomplish via direct legislation – taking away ATVs from your kids, even using youth model ATVs developed at the request of the CPSC.  ATV riding is too popular regionally for a ban to ever pass Congress - so the consumer groups obtained their objective under the cover of darkness with the CPSIA and sympathetic Dem plants on the CPSC Commission.  And here’s the hypocrisy of Ms. Tenenbaum on public display.   Appearing to herald the restrictions on youth access to adult-sized ATVs, Ms. Tenenbaum does not mention that she is ALSO responsible for the removal of youth-model ATVs from the market and that Chandler’s Law essentially implements a ban on ATV use by children under 16 years of age in South Carolina.  Had she admitted it, the publicity storm would have been bad for South Carolina legislators and Dems all over the country.  She’ll never breathe a word. Not unlike the rest of the CPSIA mess, the reality is kept beneath a cloak, out of sight.  You will only notice, if you ever do, when you go to the store and try to buy something wonderful that you have used safely in the past . . . and it’s gone.  Where did it go?  The self-appointed ” fun suckers ” have been there first.  Youth model ATVs – they’re against them.  Trampolines, backyard pools, fireworks, rhinestones, brass instruments  - all too “dangerous” for you to be allowed to use.  They know what’s best, and you should be thankful. It’s our country but they’re running it.  When are you going to do something about it?  After three years, you don’t have much time left to figure it out.

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CPSIA – Hypocrisy on Display

CPSIA – Shams and the People Who Perpetrate Them

As far back as December 2009, CPSIA zealots have been promoting the notion that a “functional purpose” exemption is the centerpiece of any fix to the CPSIA.  See Henry Waxman’s first attempt at a middle-of-the-night amendment to the CPSIA.  Chairman Inez Tenenbaum chimed in in January 2010 to support the need for a functional purpose exemption:  ” I have learned through our implementation of the law, however, that there are circumstances where the exclusion of lead in certain materials or component parts is extremely problematic. Accordingly, it would be helpful for Congress to create a new exclusion to the section 101(a) lead content limits that would allow some flexibility in cases where lead is required for a functional purpose and the elimination of the lead is impracticable or impossible. “  At their insistene, this term has always been part of each draft of CPSIA amendment being discussed by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This same approach lives on in ECADA today.  Does it really make sense to offer an “out” for items or materials which “[require] the inclusion of lead because it is not practicable or not technologically feasible to manufacture” without violative lead levels?  How might that judgment be made?  No matter – the exemption sounds like a nice gesture by the powers-that-be, doesn’t it?  Leaves the door cracked just a bit so that companies in the children’s market can preserve hope, right?  The provision also addresses the unfortunate but predictable fact that the CPSC has been “unable” to grant even one exemption to the CPSIA in the last three years.  Zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothin’.  Advocates insist that this exemption process solves the problem of an overly-inflexible law without unnecessarily “endangering” children from dreaded lead. I wonder if you would feel differently if you knew that there are no conceivable materials or products that meet this standard.  The CPSC Staff confirmed it in writing.  The CPSC report on 100 ppm released last week confirms once and for all that the functional purpose exemption is an outright SHAM.  This darling of Rep. Henry Waxman and his minions (including Adler and Tenenbaum) will never be used to grant even one exemption, thus perpetuating the hoax that the CPSIA has exemptions.  It doesn’t, it never has and if the Dems get their way with this provision, it never will.  This is no accident. The CPSC Staff report concludes that the 100 ppm lead level is “technologically feasible” for all products and all materials.  Thus, they recommend the implementation of the new standard on time on August 14 to apply to everything.  This is critical – they conclude that every material and every product can be produced at the 100 ppm level.  This is actually a narrow judgment under very specific conditions set out in the CPSIA.  “Technologically feasible” is a term of art under the law – it does not have the ordinary English language meaning you might otherwise expect.  Of particular note, the definition does not refer to cost or economics in any fashion.  In other words, if it can be done (at any expense, regardless of how ridiculous), it must be done.  As the staff discovered, almost anything is “technologically feasible” under this definition in a low tech business like children’s products.  Of course, you might have to spend a lot of money or take a lot of economic risk.  The law is indifferent to these pedestrian concerns.  To reach this conclusion, staff also dispensed with the notion that anyone “used” lead at these trace levels. They note that intentional uses of lead were always at concentrations well above 300 ppm:   ”Staff has found no intentional uses of lead in materials at concentrations at or near any of the three statutory lead limits (i.e., 100 ppm, 300 ppm, or 600 ppm).  Therefore, staff does not believe that children’s product manufacturers intentionally design or make products or components with the maximum allowable lead content because lead concentration near the maximum limit would have no benefit or purpose to the product or the manufacturer.”  In other words, lead is never “included” in children’s products at these levels.  [Note to the Dem Commissioners - you can now officially apologize for your insulting remark that we manufacturers intend to "dose" children with lead if standards are even slightly loosened.] Staff also confirmed the obvious on health issues relating to these trace levels:  The contribution of products with lead levels of between 100 ppm and 300 ppm is “minimal”. In so concluding, the staff apparently rejected the testimony of the AAP’s estimable Dana Best that IQ points were being lost left and right from trace levels of lead.  So why are the Dems still insisting on a “functional purpose” exemption process?   Well, substantively, there is no rational justification for it anymore – it cannot be granted given staff’s conclusions.  That said, who is going to figure that one out?  It sounds good, makes good press for an easily-duped media, and allows Dems to adopt the stump-worthy posture of “listening” to corporate victims while still protecting children against evil companies out to poison them.  As I said, who is going to connect the dots and figure this one out?  Expect every draft of the pending CPSIA amendment to include this obsolete notion no matter the facts.  It’s good for you, remember! This is called leadership in Washington today.

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CPSIA – Shams and the People Who Perpetrate Them

CPSIA – CPSC Announces that 100 PPM is Technologically Feasible

The CPSC put out its report today concluding that the 100 ppm lead-in-substrate standard may come into force on August 14, 2011 because it is technologically feasible.  To quote: “Based upon this analysis, the staff could not recommend that the Commission make a determination that it is not technologically feasible for a product or product category to meet the 100 ppm lead content limit for children’s products under section 101(d) of the CPSIA.” This applies to EVERY product and EVERY product category. You are now OFFICIALLY SCREWED and may begin throwing out inventory.  Don’t expect Congress to help you out.

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CPSIA – CPSC Announces that 100 PPM is Technologically Feasible

CPSIA – Kids Don’t Lick ATV’s, Apparently. Who Knew?!

In today’s Desert Sun newspaper , John Paliwoda, Executive Director of the California Motorcycle Dealers Association, published an Op-Ed entitled “Note to Congress:  Kids don’t lick their ATVs”.  You’re kidding! A few salient take-aways: a.  Although ATVs and dirt bikes are now “banned hazardous materials” under the law because of trace levels of lead in metal parts like engine components, scientists agree that the risk of injury is “remote at best”.  Even the CPSC staff acknowledge this (in writing).  Mr. Paliwoda notes that “there have been no cases of lead poisoning documented from children riding youth model ATVs”.  No one seems to care, however. b.  The CPSC acknowledges that children face a ” far graver and more immediate risk ” by being exposed to adult-sized ATVs than exposure to lead in metal components in youth-model ATVs.  The very EXISTENCE of youth-model ATVs is the handiwork of the CPSC – so their ban reverses the safety gains earned by the Commission (work that actually saved lives).  This ban of youth-model ATVs under the CPSIA is part of a larger political objective to ban ATV use by kids altogether, as publicly admitted by Cindy Pelligrini of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Subterfuge as public policy?  Apparently.  Still, Mr. Paliwoda observes:  “The one thing that the government, ATV manufacturers, dealers and consumer groups all agree on is that the key to reducing injuries and fatalities to children riding ATVs is to keep riders younger than 16 off adult-size ATVs.”  Hmmm.  Job well done, Congress! c.  The manufacturing and sale of youth-model ATVs has been severely curtailed by the law despite the temporary stay protecting manufacturers and retailers.  Why?  The stay of enforcement “failed because many manufacturers and dealers are not comfortable selling youth model powersports vehicles while the ban is on the books.”  And the impact on the industry?  Mr. Paliwoda:  “[For] motorcycle dealers in California, [the CPSIA] has been devastating.” Sadly, Mr. Paliwoda’s reasoning and documentation will not likely sway any Dems.  Why?  Aren’t they listening?  No.  Don’t they care about data?  Nope.  Don’t they care about the creation of jobs in their districts?  Doesn’t seem like it.  What motivates them, then?  It’s certainly not children’s safety, by all appearances.  My best guess is that they want to be reelected as their top priority and feel that taking a reasoned stand to repair an idiotic law ostensibly “protecting” children is too politically dangerous to risk.  The public can’t be expected to actually think about the details, after all, and the rabid and equally uncomprehending media will certainly take the other side of any effort to bring relief to this suffocating law.  Data be damned. Or, you, your company, your market and your customers be damned. PASS ECADA AND END THE CPSIA CHARADE!

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CPSIA – Kids Don’t Lick ATV’s, Apparently. Who Knew?!

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