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Because this over-reaching law mandates expensive ($400 - $4,000 per test) testing on every part of every batch of everything made for children 12 and under, the ramifications are terrible.  Mid-size and small companies of all sorts will go out of business as they cannot afford the testing.  If a company makes clothing, for example, they would have to test every batch of every color and style of fabric, every batch of buttons, snaps, zippers, thread, elastic, etc.  Even if they used the same bolt of fabric to make several different products, simply testing that one bolt would not appease the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  Instead, every size of every style of finished product would have to have every component tested individually!  This scenario applies to every product made for use by children - clothing, books, DVD's, craft products, toys, sporting goods, furniture, bedding, educational products, and so forth - even if the items are made from completely natural components. Read more   (Note: This is a must read article on this issue)

Chip Gibson, president and publisher of Random House Children’s Books, goes further. “This is a potential calamity like nothing I’ve ever seen. The implications are quite literally unimaginable,” he said, noting that children’s books could be removed from schools, libraries and stores; nonprofit groups like First Book would lose donations; and retailers, printers, and publishers could ultimately go out of business. “Books are safe. This is like testing milk for lead. It has to be stopped.” Read more

The American Library Association (ALA) released a letter to Congress yesterday, urging members to take action against a recent opinion ruling released from the General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that would require public, school, academic and museum libraries to either remove all their books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities, beginning on February 10. Read more

A new government regulation scheduled to take effect next month has thousands of retailers, thrift stores and small businesses worried they will be forced to permanently close their doors – and destroy their merchandise. The law is expected to have such a devastating impact that Feb. 10 is now unofficially known as "National Bankruptcy Day." All untested items, regardless of lead content, are to be declared "banned hazardous products.'' The CPSC has already determined the law applies to every children's item on shelves, not just to items made beginning Feb. 10. The regulations could force thousands of businesses – especially smaller ones that cannot afford the cost of lead testing – to throw away truckloads of children's clothing, books, toys, furniture and other children's items and even force them to close their doors. Read more

The island of misfit toys is about to become a landfill. Unless something drastic forces Congress to repeal its recent actions, a new law will virtually force every thrift store and many small businesses out of business on February 10, 2009; all existing inventory will officially incur the status of “Banned Hazardous Substance.” Read more

The CPSIA aims to set what would be the most stringent guidelines worldwide for children’s products containing lead and phthalates (a chemical used in some vinyl products). Due to largely go into effect February 10^th, 2009, anything at all intended for children ages 12 and under must meet these guidelines with certifications of doing so from a CPSC accredited laboratory. Read more

New safety regulations will stop even secondhand stores from selling kids products without lead/pthalate testing. Read more