Typical Congressional reaction to a problem — quickly pass an overly broad law in a rush to do something without thinking through the consequences.
The testing is required under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which was passed in response to last year’s massive recalls of toys containing lead and other dangerous substances.
[…]
“If they don’t change the law, we’d have to close our doors,” said Nick Christensen, owner of Little Sapling Toys in Eureka, Calif. “We won’t be able to afford the testing.”His wooden rattles and building blocks, which retail for $20 to $40, would cost at least $1,500 per model to test, he said. Because he makes 20 models, his testing bill would be at least $30,000.
Christensen, who makes everything by hand, says the only things his products contain are wood and beeswax, and he’s bitter about being forced to test them for lead.
Other manufacturers say they’ve been quoted testing prices of $24,000 for a telescope, $1,100 for a wooden wagon and $400 for cloth diapers, according to the toy alliance.
[…]
Many of the businesses affected by the law were created to make better, safer toys than those available at chain retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Dan Marshall, who owns a toy store in St. Paul, Minn., and founded the Handmade Toy Alliance.The new testing rules are being phased in. By Feb. 10, children’s products must be accompanied by a manufacturer’s certificate that says they do not contain lead or phthalates, which are chemicals used to soften plastic.
On Feb. 15, children’s products will have to be tested by a third party to ensure that they don’t have small parts that could be easily broken off and swallowed. In March, children’s jewelry will be required to submit to third-party tests. Bouncers and walkers will have to be tested starting in June.
Retailers could also be hurt by the new law. Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said stores would not be allowed to sell inventory after Feb. 10 that had not been tested for lead content. That means if the products are made out of natural materials but have not been tested, they’ll have to be pulled from the shelves.
It’s a blow to retailers who are confused by the law and already hurting in a slow economy.
won’t someone PLEASE think of the children?!?
(that is, the children of all these soon-to-be-unemployed workers)
this is just a knock-off effect of globalization. companies in countries with poor health and safety protections piss in the pool, and everyone suffers.
and no, we can’t just require testing for imported toys, since that would be “protectionism.”
#1–Doug==well done. I was going to post that bitching about an issue without suggesting a solution was BS. You have done so.
Given the ease of suing domestic entities and the inability to sue foreign companies, I think your solution is EXACTLY what should be done.
Alternatively, I would think some kind of affidavit from mfg to regulators explaining the mfg process could be an exception for those “claiming” all natural products?? Then JAIL the liars.
In other news, kids everywhere celebrated the fact that they are unlikely to receive any more “handmade toys” for Christmas and will instead receive the cool plastic stuff from WalMart that they asked for.
Seriously, these cute little wooden cars and trains are things grandparents buy for their grandchildren so they can feel nostalgic.
The first thing every kid I know says when they open a present is “what does it do?”. Wood toys don’t do crap.
#2. either that, or do what many regulatory laws do – balance the costs with the benefits. AFAIK, lots of laws say that if your sales are less than X amount, you are exempt from the most onerous requirements.
And exactly how many toys will be “inspected” even by the big name toymakers? I can’t imagine any toy company in China inspecting anything. They will simply take the money and put the sticker on it.
$1,500 for each MODEL to be tested sounds like a lot. How many Barbies / Hot Wheels / Bratz / Webkinz etc. are out there? Mattel let alone home toy makers are going to take a bath, and will pass that pain right along to us.
#5. I would think that testing the components of the toys would probably do it. I mean, if you use the same damn paint on three different toys, it will always test the same.
So the wood and beeswax simply types out a certificate certifying that the product is safe. This story is typical journalism hype.
I had toys as a kid that burned me, shocked me, impaled me, sliced me – those were the good old days. I pity the poor little snowflakes and crotch fruit if they get a boo-boo – mommy will call the lawyers. This is truly leading to the pussification of todays kids.
Gooberment
I’m stealing that word.
Meanwhile China will still be shipping the SOS.
# 8 Special Ed said, “I had toys as a kid that burned me, shocked me, impaled me, sliced me – those were the good old days. …”
Bingo. Too many defective people are surviving into adulthood.
Holy Crap.
Our toy factory closed down last summer (2007), done in by a combination of Asian competition and global warming (our primary wood source was Baltic birch, and after the permafrost started melting they couldn’t harvest it, and the price tripled). If we could have survived that, we wouldn’t have survived this. My husband still makes some toys in the basement to sell at craft shows, and I hadn’t even heard about the change in the law. I mean, for crying out loud, we use wood and paints bought in the US, and you can’t even buy leaded paint in this country.
Check out http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org for info on how to contact your congressjerk to inject some common sense into this law.
And thanks, Uncle Dave, for the heads up.
I don’t know where these costs come from. In our lab we have tested hundreds of consumer products. A lead test costs $24. Semi-volatile organics (the test for phthalates) costs $295. Either these toy manufacturers are getting ripped off, or there is some wild exaggeration going on. Is the testing needed? I won’t be the judge of that, however, we have found extremely high levels of lead in many craft items and small parts that children could easily swallow.
As if Americans and American businesses did not have enough trouble and concerns
The Chinese with their lack of labor laws and management coercion and corruption in their political and economic systems ship downright dangerous products
Congress reacts
The small American toymakers who are struggling in the market place ( who produced safe products) get hit
After the industry is decimated Congress will react ( after their summer recess) to relax the rules ( after the media hubbub)
Guess who will then manufacture and export the toys to the US and Canada
Welcome to Wal-mart
Damn, this will wipe out my easy-to-swallow-solid-lead-brick-dipped-in-melamine-toy business.
I think I need a government bail-out.
see what happens when people make CRAP.
People get hurt, one way or the other.
This is only the ripple effect of those who are greedy and stupid.
Witch sadly hurts the third party most, then the ones that actually made the bad stuff.
Still as shown something must be done.
#13 Paddy-O said
“Too many defective people are surviving into adulthood.”
Hard to argue with that.
Hmm, maybe people on this blog will realize that all this regulation that they think businesses are against, are actually helping big businesses.
Starting all the way with the Dept of Agriculture and the railroad commissions.
The inmates are running the asylum now. I fear for the next generation of children. The modern parents who are so afraid of everything, and feel that there are no limits on what is to be expected to protect their children from any potentially bad experience.
Want a good example? Yesterday I listened to the latest This American Life program on NPR titled “370: Ruining It for the Rest of Us”. In act 1, they discuss the recent outbreak of a measles infection in San Diego caused by some parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated.
It just made my blood boil. The selfishness and paranoia of the the parents who endanger the lives of all the other children in their city because of a perceived risk from the vaccination. They stupidly trade the miniscule risk of problems from the vaccination on one child for a major risk of mass infection of a serious disease for all children. It just makes you wonder how on earth these parents managed to live long enough to procreate themselves. You can’t help but think they they feel that the rest of the world is there solely for their own little prodigy, and to hell with every one else’s children.
I have my doubts that objects made of untreated wood should have to be tested.
They might also come up with a list of tested materials that can be used in toys so that the toy doesn’t have to be tested.
Interior wall paint has already been tested for example.
In my view all this testing is a complete waste anyway. The answer on the item sent to be tested will always be no.
If the government watch dogs don’t occasionally pull out something from the stores and check it somebody is going to do a substitution and you are back with lead in toys.
All the law should have said is that toys will on occasion be tested and if any meaningful amount of lead is found in them they will be recalled and disposed of in a safe manner at the makers’ expense.
You don’t trust industry to police itself unless you are brain dead.
Um, Congress did it with banking, They’ve already done this once with toys. Nobody has a clue where the billions we are spending to bail out banks is going. Has Congress learned anything?
No. They are still on the take and voting against the best interest of the people that put them in office.
@22 – Ron Larson
>>It just made my blood boil.
Why? If most people got the vaccine, most people didn’t get measles, right?
Here’s a simple solution to those small businesses that make these toys. Stop calling them children’s toys and start calling them “Nostalgia Replica’s”. Then they can say “Hey, they weren’t meant for children” when the Gooberment comes a callin’ to get their cut of the “testing fees”.
Thank gosh they removed plastic model kits from the toy category. 99% of the parts are so small, a pet mouse would choke.
I heard on the radio today that they are going to exempt these small makers who make toys of wood.
I think parents who decline vaccinations for their kids on the basis of thimerosal (no longer used) or “government conspiracies” are prime candidates for Darwin Awards, in a new category: the Indirect Darwin Award. That’s the one where the awardees survive long enough to procreate, but their offspring don’t.
Want to talk about mercury poisoning? Do you know what brand name thimerosal used to be sold under when we were kids? Merthiolate! Yes, that red stuff that used to sting so badly on cuts and scrapes. Our parents used to slather that on us at every opportunity.
Hmm. I wonder how much smarter the country would be if we hadn’t all been so exposed to mercury as kids…
We sell many toys that will be tested… at least I guess they’ll be tested. Who’s enforcing this law? Do etailers, Amazon sellers, and eBayers have to show proof that the toys they sell have been tested?
So many questions, so few answers. Of course we want the products we sell to be safe for children. However, the only companies that will suffer are the small shops that will be forced to raise prices and drive buyers to big box retailers.
A recent article in the L.A. Times talked about places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army not accepting or selling kids toys and clothing. Again, is the onus on the reseller or the manufacturer? The Times call half a dozen resellers and only one had even heard about the new testing laws.
Most of the posts on this thread had good points; the one that irked me however was BdgBill who said, “wood toys don’t do crap.” Bill should have qualified his statement meaning older kids don’t like wood toys. Young kids love building blocks and other “basic” toys that keep them occupied for hours instead of TV or video games.