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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 9
November 11, 2009 by Rick Woldenberg, Chairman, Learning Resources, Inc.
Filed under BLOG, Featured Articles
The Alliance for Children’s Product Safety’s “CPSIA Casualty of the Week” highlights how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is disrupting the U.S. marketplace in order to draw attention to the problems faced by small businesses, public institutions, consumers and others trying to comply with senseless and often contradictory provisions of the law. These provisions do nothing to improve product safety, but are driving small businesses out of the market.
Congress and the CPSC need to address the problems with CPSIA implementation to help small businesses by restoring “common sense” to our nation’s product safety laws.
CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 9
♪ ♫ 76 Trombones Taken Away by the CPSC… ♪ ♫
CPSC Ruling: The Day the Music Died for Elementary School Brass Bands?
In an unfortunate but widely expected decision last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted 3-2 to reject a petition to exempt brass from the new CPSIA-mandated lead standard.
CPSC Ruling: The Day the Music Died for Elementary School Brass Bands?
In an unfortunate but widely expected decision last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted 3-2 to reject a petition to exempt brass from the new CPSIA-mandated lead standard.
While the petition was specifically submitted for brass bushings that hold a wheel onto the axle of a toy truck, the CPSC’s vote will have widespread repercussions. In addition to brass zippers, grommets and other apparel and footwear components, victims of this decision include brass instruments, musical bells and certain strings used in a string instrument.
By in effect outlawing brass in children’s products as defined by CPSIA (any product used primarily by a child 12 and under) the CPSC’s actions call into question the future of school bands. Will young musicians in their school band’s brass section now have to hum along with their peers, or switch to the recorder or a (plastic) kazoo?
The fact is that brass is routinely used in countless products used and touched by children daily, including door knobs, locker handles, and much, much more. There is no danger of lead poisoning from brass. CPSC staff wrote that they consider brass bushings safe and that the lead transmission from brass bushings is inconsequential and certainly not rising to the level of a hazardous substance. However, staff believed that that CPSIA offers no flexibility to the CPSC to assess risk.
Members of Congress who have refused to amend the CPSIA claimed that all would be well once new Commissioners were in place. These new Commissioners had another opportunity to vote for common sense. Unfortunately, two of the three new Commissioners believed CPSIA does not allow this – common sense has been thrown to the brass heap for now.
To see a webcast of the CPSC’s public hearing on the brass exemption petition, click here.
To read the Wall Street Journal’s stinging editorial about the brass decision, click here.
Do not accept the status quo! Tell Congress and the CPSC to restore “common sense” to our nation’s product safety laws. Click here for instructions on how to contact the CPSC and your representatives in Congress.
For more information, please contact Caitlin Andrews at (202) 828-7637 or e-mail caitlin.andrews@bgllp.com.
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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 9
CPSIA – Do-Gooder Congress Wants to End Paper Recycling, too!
October 20, 2009 by Rick Woldenberg, Chairman, Learning Resources, Inc.
Filed under BLOG, Featured Articles
Carol Baicker-McKee points out that it has been reported in Publishers Weekly that recycled paper may contain lead and phthalates – darn, there goes paper recycling, too! In an April 2 article entitled “Children’s Publishers Address CPSIA Testing and Labeling Provisions“, Publishers Weekly sets the record straight:
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it will not enforce the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act when it comes to “ordinary” books printed after 1985 . . . [but] for publishers of novelty and book-plus formats—which account for a significant chunk of sales, especially in mass-market and special-market channels—the CPSIA will remain in full force, with all of its costly testing, certification and labeling requirements. . . . Several publishers said they test all of their titles, not just novelty books but also ink-on-paper formats. Most books came through the testing with flying colors, but there were a few incidences reported in which titles did not make the grade. With the increasing interest in all things “green,” it’s interesting to note that books made of recycled materials are more likely to contain some lead or phthalates and therefore less likely to make it through the testing process.” [Emphasis added]
Yes, that’s right – recycled paper might have lead or phthalates in it! Ouch, can’t use that in children’s products – for packaging, for guides and instruction manuals, or in books. Oh well, we have very large dumps available for our refuse! [See here for the benefits of paper recycling.] Btw, lead and phthalates are found in recycled paper because of inevitable contaminants like staples, binding materials, foil, whathaveyou. It’s all thrown together, heated, churned, swished around, etc., before being sifted apart. Some contaminants remain. Is that really surprising?
Imagine if Congress wrote laws after they thought about what they were doing! What a wonderful world that might be . . . . Right now, I call on the CPSC to step forward and do the right thing – ban all recycled materials or components used in children’s products – WAY too dangerous for our new America. We need all new everything, it’s a modern stimulus package.
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CPSIA – Do-Gooder Congress Wants to End Paper Recycling, too!
