CPSIA – What You Get For Your Database Dollars

Selections from the CPSIA database, courtesy of an interested party. It’s easy to see how careully the CPSC has been following its own rules on postings . . . . “I don’t think anyone should be wearing them and if they do try them, they should be made aware of potential injury and warned to discontinue use at the first sign of discomfort. I wish I had know.”   “Please consider taking the shoes off the market before more people are hurt.”   “each time the hat was placed on baby’s head he would cry.” [Sorry just had to add this one, it was due to broken needle.]   “My ankle still hurts and probably will never be the same.”   “…still pains me with every step I take.”    “I truly hope you will be able to make this company accountable for the quality issues we have experienced” “I also strongly encourage you to investigate how many other pieces from the same manufacturing batch could be affected…”   “it didn’t occur to me that there might be problems associated with a product being sold in a reputable store.”   “It appears that [Company name] has no concern whatsoever for Consumer Safety just profits.”   “We used an XRF analyzer and testing results showed the plate contained over 300 ppm of lead AND mercury.”    “I did NOT want another product in my home from this manufacturer”    “This product should be recalled.”

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CPSIA – What You Get For Your Database Dollars

CPSIA – Jan Schakowsky Wants to Design Your New Home, Too.

801 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 9 days left until Election Day.

801 days without ANY help. Amazing . . . .

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the Illinois Congresswoman who informed the WSJ that I am a “cynical special interest” because I dared to participate in the upcoming midterm elections, is not content with rearranging your business and the Children’s Product industry. Now she wants to redesign your new home.

Does she have good taste, you ask. Well, read on and see what you think of Jan Schakowsky as your architect or decorator.

Your home is your last refuge, right? Not if she gets her way – but then again, she knows what’s best for you! After all, a bigger government involved in every aspect of your life is a BETTER government. The estimable Ms. Schakowsky is the sponsor of HR 1408 Inclusive Home Design Act of 2009. In other words, this law-in-the-makings is her handiwork.

She brags about this pending legislation on her Facebook page in posts dated October 6, so she must be pretty psyched about it. I gather she wants the electorate to know of her excellent leadership in Congress, so I thought I’d help out. Happy to lend a hand to such a “great” leader.

Best I can tell, Ms. Schakowsky latest brain wave is to require you to redesign your new home to be disability-friendly if you get “federal assistance”. The so-called purpose of the act is “[t]o require all newly constructed, federally assisted, single-family houses and town houses to meet minimum standards of visitability for persons with disabilities.”

And what might she have in mind, precisely? Anyone who receives “federal assistance” needs to design new homes to meet several ADA-like standards even if they are useless to the buyers. No matter that this will cost money or that you don’t want it. It’s good for you, Jan says so. It may also make it difficult for you to find new homes without these features. Like cod liver oil, you’ll get used to it!

As noted, to get into this spot, you need to receive federal assistance. Here’s a sample of what might constitute “federal assistance”:

“any assistance that is provided or otherwise made available by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or any program or activity or such agencies, through any grant, loan, contract, or any other arrangement, after the expiration of the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, including . . . grants, subsidies, or any other funds . . . services of Federal personnel . . . any tax credit, mortgage or loan guarantee or insurance. . . .”

In other words, if you even brush against the federal government in constructing your new home, you are COVERED by this law. Tax credit for your new energy-efficient furnace? You’re IN. HUD loan refinance for a development of several homes? You’re IN. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac involved? You’re IN. Vet benefits? You’re IN. Inspected by a federal employee for some reason? You get the idea.

Hey, here’s the REAL idea – the government belongs in EVERY aspect of your life. Ms. Schakowsky doesn’t even think you should be allowed to measure the door frames in your house without her oversight. It doesn’t even matter if you have a disabled person living in the house – you MIGHT be visited by one and certainly, you would not able to accommodate that visit without Ms. Schakowsky’s supervision.

Perhaps you should invite her, too, just to work out the kinks. Uh-oh, I sense an amendment coming!

Had enough yet? If not, vote DEM on November 2nd so society can be reengineered a little bit more. On the other hand, if you have the vaguest sense that this is a runaway train and might need to be stopped before it’s too late . . . vote the other way.

The Dems brought this on themselves. They put people like Schakowsky in leadership roles. The Children’s Product industry is in tatters as a result. PLEASE STOP THE INSANITY ON NOVEMBER 2ND!!!

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CPSIA – Jan Schakowsky Wants to Design Your New Home, Too.

CPSIA – What Lead Threat, says EPA.

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.

I know Congress told us that lead is a major health threat in children’s products. Far be it from me to doubt the Junior Scientists Club that the Dems have fashioned in Congress. I am sure they know what they’re talking about.

Unfortunately, the Junior Scientists forgot to coordinate with the EPA. Well, why would we think the Environmental Protection Agency would know anything about neurotoxins in the environment or in the home? Strangely, the EPA happens to be very concerned about the presence of lead in the home. In fact, they published a brochure entitled “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home“. A friend recently signed a lease in the Land-of-Fruit-and-Nuts and was handed this brochure for his safety.

I couldn’t help but be curious. The EPA wants to protect against lead in the home. SURELY they would mention lead in children’s products. Children, our most vulnerable consumers, blah blah blah. Right?

Ummm, no. There is no mention of children’s products, much less lead-in-substrate. The focus is on lead-in-paint ON THE WALLS.

A few “shocking” revelations from dumb ole’ EPA:

a. “People can get in their bodies by breathing or swallowing lead dust, or by eating soil or paint chips containing lead.”

b. “In most cases, lead-based paint that is in good condition is not a hazard.” [Think of all the CPSC recalls for a dot of lead-in-paint.]

c. “Lead is even more dangerous to children under the age of 6.” [Waxman has refused categorically to compromise on this fix for the ridiculous and unsupportable age range of the CSPIA.]

d. “Where Lead-Based Paint is Found” [No mention of anything other than paint found on walls, or in the soil around a home which can pick up dust from interior paint or air pollution.]

e. “Identifying Lead Hazards”

• Lead-based paints
• Deteriorating lead-based paint (peeling, chipping, chalking, crackling or damaged).
• Lead dust
• Lead in soil

No mention of consumer products of any kind. Not even ATVs or bicycle seats!

f. “Other Sources of Lead”

• Drinking water
• The job
• Old painted toys and furniture
• Food and liquids stored in leaded crystal or lead-glazed pottery or porcelain
• Lead smelters
• Hobbies that use lead
• Folk remedies

Hmmm. Lead paint was illegal for YEARS before the CPSIA. Apparently, the EPA was totally asleep at the switch until Congress discovered the mortal hazard of lead lurking in every conceivable consumer product and reengineered the CPSC in its paranoid image. As we know, under Congress’ direction, Inez Tenenbaum assures us that the CPSC “[looks] at what the danger is”. And that danger is the lead bogeyman. Odd, isn’t it, that the EPA continues to circulate this document so out of touch with Congress’ and the CPSC’s insights?

Gotta love good government!

Read more here:
CPSIA – What Lead Threat, says EPA.

CPSIA – I Will Appear as a Witness in Thursday’s House Hearing on CPSIA

I have been invited to appear as a witness at Thursday’s hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. The hearing on the “Consumer Product Safety Enhancement Act of 2010″ (the Waxman Amendment 2.0 in its latest form) will take place at 10 AM EST on Thursday, April 29 at 2322 Rayburn House Office Building.

The hearing will be streamed live, but I don’t have the link to give you yet. You may be able to find it at this link on Thursday or on the home page of the committee. I will try to get the link posted in my blog before showtime.

I intend to tell my story and your story to the committee and look forward to exploring the bedeviling issues of the CPSIA in the open air. If you have any ideas or suggestions for my testimony, please feel free to share them here, or send me an email. Thanks.

Read more here:
CPSIA – I Will Appear as a Witness in Thursday’s House Hearing on CPSIA

CPSIA – Why the Waxman Amendment MUST BE REJECTED

As we face the dilemma of what to do about the Waxman Amendment 2.0, I want to point out recent quotes by Sam Zell, a Chicago-based real estate entrepreneur. At a recent panel discussion of the Urban Land Institute, Mr. Zell bemoaned how our federal government governs these days: “[What's] going on now is frightening . . . Up until this administration, you knew the rules and had a very stable environment . . . If the current situation is indicative of the next half century, I think we’re screwed.”

Screwed. Mr. Zell’s words ring in my ears.

In the wake of Friday’s contentious meeting with the Waxmanis on Capitol Hill, the Dems announced that a new draft of the Waxman Amendment 2.0 would be released on Monday. In their usual bullying style, Waxman staff issued yet another ultimatum, advising this time that after release of that next draft, we all must “decide” whether or not to support the amendment. If we won’t support it, they say they have better things to do.

The meeting produced no breakthroughs. The fundamental flaws in the law remain unaddressed, and meager goodies meant to partially salve the wounds of a limited number of companies remain the focus of the legislation. The goal of this legislation is to split the group protesting this law, peeling off the ATV’rs, the book industry, the crafters and mass market retailers. None of these groups is a clear winner, either. The rest of us, namely the Small Business community, will be left as roadkill.

A request by the ranking Republican for hearings was rejected on the grounds that there has been too much “jawboning” already. We are apparently all Chatty Cathies. Shame on us.

This reasoning behind the limited intent of the legislation was on display at this week’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing attended by Illinois’ own Senator Dick Durbin and Maine’s Senator Susan Collins with only one witness, CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. Don’t watch the hearing on a full stomach . . . . Among other things confirmed by this hearing was that the functional purpose exemption embedded in Waxman Amendment is supposed to benefit a “narrow class” of products (in the words of Ms. Tenenbaum), namely bikes, ATVs and books. Lucky them.

Sadly, the hearing also confirmed the bizarre impression held by members of Congress that the small business issues are limited to crafters, for some reason a particular source of angst. Our company happens to also be a small business, although we no longer operate out of a bedroom or a garage – and we face major issues caused by this law. While I share concern for the tiniest of enterprises, the economic problems don’t end there. In the words of the Chicago City Treasurer Stephanie Neely: “We are truly an economy of small businesses. And it’s important that they thrive. They do a lot of employing. . . on a day-to-day basis, these are people who are employing one, ten, thirty people, and and it’s important that we help them.” Oh yeah, jobs.

The Waxman Amendment should be REJECTED until comprehensive legislation to fix the law is brought to the floor. If we let them pass this law, organized resistance to this law will be greatly diminished, and any opportunity to restore a sensible rule of law may be lost . . . permanently.

Consider the consequences if this amendment is passed:

- Our national safety law has changed from risk-based to standards-based. Mindlessly focused on lines in the sand, the new law’s definition of safety has been completely rubbed out. Without this compass, the world of safety has become an unpredictable, unstable random walk. The Senate hearing included (incredibly) a rehashing of the “dangers” posed by Zhu Zhu Pets, the need for BPA recalls, the potential risk posed by triclosan and the CPSC’s ability and interest in initiating recalls for these “dangers”. Given that we no longer can figure out what’s safe and what’s not, every possible threat brings up discussion of recalls.

Try to run a business under conditions like that.

The risk of this reactive form of government CANNOT BE OVERSTATED. On April 13, Representative Edward Markey proudly sent out letters to 13 companies demanding that they stop using the antibacterial compound triclosan. The list of targets was almost certainly supplied to him by consumer groups. Mr. Markey, for all his power, is not a regulatory agency and does not have authority, resources or expertise to act as a regulator and his consumer group buddies are also not empowered to regulate our markets (thankfully). He is only a Congressman (up for reelection in November, btw). However, nowadays, that’s apparently enough to regulate. I would not want to receive such a letter. I also do not cotton to this style of government.

- The complexity and volume of safety law being spewed out is truly breathtaking and overwhelming. I literally cannot keep up anymore. i can’t read it all, watch it all, digest it all or even write comment letters. [Unfortunately, I still have job responsibilities, too.] On a recent Friday, the CPSC expelled almost 600 pages of new rules – and they were IMPORTANT. They included the new so-called 15 Month Rule – have you read it yet? This 100+ page rule has been written to control children’s products as though we were merchants of death. We are not. The April 15 hearing to review this regulatory morsel was a mere five hours long, so lengthy that the CPSC has only posted one hour of the fun so far. Ironically, this hearing wasn’t broadcast live, as it conflicted with broadcast of the first meeting of phthalates CHAP. Can’t broadcast two mega-hearings at once.

Do you get it yet?

By my reckoning, the rules applicable to generic children’s products is now nearing 2500 pages. If you take into account childcare items and other ancillary matters, the number of pages is probably well in excess of 3000 pages. We are clearly heading to a place where the rules total many thousands of pages. And WHY are there so many rules? It has nothing to do with actual safety. The injuries (one) and deaths (one) from lead in 2007/8, the highest outbreak of recalls in our history, were simply nominal for a country 300 million people.

In any event, you are going to have to know and bear the risk of ALL of those rules. And the new rules keep coming, very often overruling the rules you already mastered. For those you who are tempted to support Mr. Waxman’s Amendment, please THINK about this.

- When the CPSC is done with its rulemaking, it is going into enforcement mode. That was a clear message of Ms. Tenenbaum’s testimony in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Her Compliance initiative will feature another 41 employees at a cost of $4,7 million to catch you violating rules. In addition, the resources of the existing agency will also shift to catching you. If you have read any of my writings about penalties, perhaps you can figure out what that means.

Bottom line, having divorced their mission from common sense or any notion of risk, the CPSC built an ornate and truly incomprehensible set of safety rules that even mega-corporations have admitted exceeds their capacity to manage. For small businesses, not merely the home crafters, compliance will be simply impossible. If those businesses are unable to understand the rules or afford to comply (while staying in business), they won’t be able to follow them, and if the agency is bent on catching them, well, the results will be grim.

If you can’t see this coming – my friend, you are blind.

The Testing and Certification stay ends on February 10, 2010. Don’t expect this Commission to extend it again. The meter is running.

IF you support the Waxman Amendment because you really want the meager relief they are dangling, you will be conceding that you are prepared to endure what I have described. You are not ready for that, and you know it. Support for revising the bill comprehensibly will be greatly diminished at the same time, and even our most steadfast supporters in Congress will give up on us.

As painful as it may seem, you MUST decline to support this legislation. We must, as a community, insist on a true fix, one that addresses the real problems caused by the CPSIA. Nothing short of a total fix will suffice. The ornate rules needs to be simplified and refocused on real issues. The needless self-destructive imposition of blinding costs needs to be reversed. Excessive bureaucratic processes and exemptions only for big industries and big companies must end.

NOTHING that I am suggesting will or should amount to a retrenchment in safety for children or anyone else. It is no “free pass” for industry, whatever that might mean. It is simply means a return to sanity.

That may be too much to ask for this Congress or this Commission. I am not optimistic. Make me a believer this week – REJECT THE WAXMAN AMENDMENT.

Read more here:
CPSIA – Why the Waxman Amendment MUST BE REJECTED

CPSIA – ICPHSO Update – Q&A with CPSC

Q&A’s from this afternoon’s session. Gib Mullan responding unless otherwise noted.

A taste of things to come:

1. The biggest impact of the Public Database is how quickly you will have to reply. Hmmm, where have we heard this before??? Hope you are never on vacation. . . .
2. On confidentiality in the Public Database, it is going to be “hard to deal with”. Info from consumers won’t be confidential. Info from businesses will either be confidential or not, perhaps at the company’s pleasure, but it will be hard to act on info businesses provide WITHOUT making it public. RW: Don’t forget to make comments,guys. Your silence will be taken as your approval, trust me.
3. The plan for the DB is to let companies have “every bit of the time” specified in the statute “AND NOTHING MORE”. There will be “minimal CPSC review”. Aha, just like Tenenbaum said, time to get prepared. . . for the first Tuesday in November.
4. One questioner noted that the recalls on cribs has so rattled consumers that it has stimulated the return of co-sleeping arrangements, known to be one of the most dangerous baby scenarios. Hmmm. The CPSC will be doing education to counteract this development. RW: It is inconceivable that their publicity will match the media frenzy over crib recalls. It’s probably safest just to stop having kids.
5. Will there be a mandatory standard for window coverings – because there is (said to be) one death a month. The CPSC says that they are working on it. For you at home, it’s probably safer to just take down all window coverings and let Mrs. Kravitz have a big day.
6. Somebody called for new regulations on the “end of life”, just like in Japan. OMG . . . . Hey, they mean the end of your product’s life! What were you thinking? The CPSC is watching how this system works but has no present plans to expand its current regulatory scheme.
7. When will a promotional product become a “Children’s Product”? Does it become a Children’s Product if screened with the wrong thing? Cheri Falvey responded that you can’t read the WIMA letter (the pen decision) to address this question. It was a “result-oriented” opinion from a two-person Commission. The new rule on Children’s Products, to be voted on by five Commissioners, will sort this out. Might incorporate the pen decision and broaden it, or it might not. So there you go, might be okay, might not, you should wait and see. [RW: I hate the pen decision because it attempts to solve a compliance issue on a technicality with absolutely no regard for safety. Is a pen safe? The decision cannot be reconciled against that question because it only matters what was intended by the manufacturer. Safety is irrelevant when considering compliance . . . ?]
8. Eric Stone noted that changes in the definition of “Children’s Products” may have consequences for manufacturers and asked if the agency has the legal authority to operate prospectively. Falvey declined to give a legal opinion, but noted her personal opinion that the definition could broaden in the new rule. She noted that she has warned about that in the past. Oh, I see, we are to write down her every word, savoring them like pearls, because her oral warnings in any setting are going to be taken as precedent. We were warned. Too bad for those of you who weren’t here to hear her words. Ha Ha Ha Ha! And you can’t use this blog as a citation, either. Remember, my URL doesn’t end in “dot gov”. I am a liar.
9. When the law goes into effect on cribs, Falvey told us this AM that the standards will be RETROACTIVE. A member of the juvenile products industry referred to this news as a “bomb”. He said there could be 20 or 30 million cribs that don’t comply and would be instantly illegal. Gib says the new rule would be retroactive only for cribs in “public settings” like hotels, motels, day care centers. He says that the Commission has the authority to go even further. Oooh, could be a great chance for the government to come into your home – nice! I really like the concept of this rule – it’s really simple, see, it will be retroactive for some people and prospective for others. Apparently, the CPSC and Congress still haven’t figured out that the U.S. economy is rather complex. I see years of fun ahead for the regulators.
10. Learning Curve asked if all document attachments on the Public Database would be made public. Gib said yes. LCI then asked about consumer-obtained test reports and whether they would also be made public without scrutiny. Gib said he hadn’t thought of that one. I can think of a few plaintiff’s lawyers who would be happy to run a real life seminar about this in the future . . . . This Q illustrates the incredible disarray that awaits us all because of this insanely self-destructive provision fobbed off on us by the consumer groups.
11. Gib: not everything in the database will be public. Some area will be explicitly confidential. Some 15(b) disclosures will not appear in the DB.
12. No decision on whether media reports will be included in the DB. I find this hard to be envision – I trust eventually the consumer groups will force all the trash into the DB to help with all their searches. Oh how I look forward to the new era of Sudden Business Death.
13. Will the agency will reconcile multiple reports of the same incident? One of Cheri Falvey’s associates said they would address it in the rule. The rule is now over 25 pages long. Trust me, it won’t be that short when released.

Read more here:
CPSIA – ICPHSO Update – Q&A with CPSC

CPSIA – Reaction to my Testing Guidance Comments

On November 11, I published my thoughts on the recently-announced Testing Guidance. These guidelines will be the subject of the upcoming two-day workshop at the CPSC on Dec. 10/11.

In my blogpost, I noted that children’s products with paint require independent testing while painted non-children’s products used in the home and around children only require a GCC, no testing. That makes NO sense to me, as explained in my blogpost.

I received a series of emails from a regular reader of this space, someone with a great deal of expertise in the CPSC and its practices. Let’s just say, this person knows quite a bit more than me. Here’s what my reader said in reply to this essay:

“I think the implication that children’s products needed some special class of testing by someone other than the manufacturer was highly questionable to begin with. (Put another way, why should we distrust children’s product manufacturers? Or in the alternative, is the risk from such products really so much higher that special safeguards were necessary? In truth, most of the serious injuries and deaths that led to recalls were because of defects and not because of non-compliance with rules that you could test for.)

. . . .

Unfortunately, there seems to be a national trend–including other agencies and state and local governments–of legislating requirements based on junk science disseminated by interest groups. This leads not only to incredible costs, or loss of product for consumers, but diverts the attention and resources of the agencies from their core mission of reducing deaths, injury, and illness. That is the ultimate irony here: that in promoting safety some of these presumably well intentioned people are in fact likely decreasing the public safety.”

Score one for people that actually know what they’re talking about! Couldn’t say it better myself (although I have been trying for about a year).

Read more here:
CPSIA – Reaction to my Testing Guidance Comments

CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 2

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 2:

The Final Adventure of Whimsical Walney:
CPSIA Claims another Home Crafter

Dana Lardner started Whimsical Walney in 2004 to showcase handmade products with the theme “let children play.” She sold items such as kids’ fabric books, foreign language-focused clothing, and outdoor blankets on her website. Dana always focused on product designs that promoted a child’s imagination. In April 2009, almost a year to the day that she reintroduced Whimsical Walney with new branding and a new website, Dana shut down her business because of CPSIA.

“I decided to close my business because I had planned to introduce a new line of products. I was going to sell off existing inventory and then discontinue several of my old products to focus my business and build my brand. Because all my products would be defined as “children’s products” under the CPSIA, I would be required to test everything for lead and some for phthalates. It would have been cost prohibitive not only to test products that I don’t intend to continue selling, but also to test yet-to-be-released products whose acceptance in the market is unknown. I know that there was a stay of the testing requirement, but the writing was on the wall for businesses like mine. From the tracking label requirements to the prohibitive penalties, I just could not take the risk of staying in the children’s product market.”

Dana has shifted her business to focus on products specifically designed for adult consumers such as handmade housewares and accessories. Unfortunately for kids, Whimsical Walney is yet another product line and small business that has left the children’s product market – not because any of the products were unsafe, contained dangerous levels of lead, or could anyway harm a child, but because of the inability to concurrently market and build her business while also managing the undue overhead of the irrational provisions of CPSIA.

Dana started a CPSIA blog at her website: www.WhimsicalWalney.com.

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.

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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 2

CPSIA – Car Seat Lead Poisoning Hoo-hah

Perhaps you heard that there have been six cases of lead poisoning by car seats in Maine. Sounds ridiculous, right

See original here:
CPSIA – Car Seat Lead Poisoning Hoo-hah