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Stork Baby Gift Baskets has been in
business since 1999
is dedicated to offering our customers
healthy and safe products for their children. Although we do not necessarily
agree with the testing/certification requirements under the new law, in
particular, because it will negatively impact small businesses and their
ability to manufacture and sell their already safe products (this includes
us), we have always taken Child Safety very seriously and will consequently
only be selling products that have been CPSIA certified, effective February
10, 2009.
As a result, we have been busy re-designing (and/or removing) many of our
diaper cakes and gift baskets to include only CPSIA certified components
(yup, not only toys, but also bibs, burp cloths, baby blankets, booties, etc.
have to be certified).
HERE IS MORE CPSIA INFORMATION:
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), approved in 1999 - 2010, is a
much-needed response to dangerous toys and products that were reaching our
children. Parents and industry groups asked the government to do something
about baby products safety after all of those lead paint recalls of 2007, and
the magnet recalls and the phthalates and BPA and other potential health
risks to children posed by their toys, clothes, blankets and other everyday
items. The government's answer was CPSIA, which is enforced by the
Consumer
Product Safety Commission
(CPSC).
CPSIA is well-intentioned, and will work to improve product safety for Kids Gifts
under age 12 in many ways. The problem lies in the fact that the broad
language used in the act leaves many small businesses, particularly natural
and handmade toys and baby products companies, wondering if they will be able
to afford to continue making toys or baby products once CPSIA's testing
requirements go into place on Feb. 10, 2009.
Most small toy and baby product manufacturers do not disagree with the
premise of CPSIA, nor do they feel that they should not need to show that
their products are safe. Two issues come up often in relation to CPSIA and
small handmade or natural toys and baby products companies - the type of
testing that they are required to do, and whether or not there should be
exemptions for natural and organic products where the inputs do not contain
any harmful chemicals that could then be present in the final product.
CPSIA Testing For Lead, Phthalates and More
CPSIA requires companies to show that their toys and products intended for
Kids Gifts under 12 do not contain harmful amounts of lead and other chemicals,
including phthalates. CPSIA requires that each batch of product be tested,
which isn't a problem for companies that make large batches of clothes, toys
or other products. When a company makes a batch of only five or ten of one
handmade product at a time, testing one item from that batch can become
cost-prohibitive.
Many small toy and children's product manufacturers are asking CPSC to
consider allowing them to test their product inputs instead of testing one
product from each batch. This means they could test all of the materials that
go into the products, and then if they use the same materials for several
different products, they would not need to test the same material again. This
could lower the testing costs to small businesses while still requiring that
some type of safety testing was done on children's products. Fashion
Incubator, a popular site for small clothing manufacturers, lists some pros
and cons of unit- vs. component-testing.
CPSIA And Natural Products
Products that are made with natural materials that do not contain lead are
another source of contention among toy and baby products manufacturers. These
manufacturers argue that if a product is made from materials that do not ever
contain lead, it is wasteful to test the product for lead content later just
to comply with CPSIA. For example, wool does not contain lead. If you made a
wool baby blanket or a cloth diaper soaker out of wool, with no other
materials, it would be nearly impossible for the product to suddenly develop
lead contamination. Should the maker of this wool blanket have an open
exemption to all CPSIA requirements? No, probably not. But it's reasonable to
exempt them from the lead testing requirement if it can be shown that
natural, lead-free are used exclusively in making the product. The Handmade
Toy Alliance has some proposals and petitions available with suggestions for
modifications to CPSIA that would benefit small businesses.
Make CPSIA Work For Small Businesses
Companies and industry groups can apply to CPSC for some type of relief or
exemption to the new requirements, though we don't know yet what CPSC will do
to handle those requests. An across-the-board exemption for sole proprietor
businesses or handmade baby products businesses or even natural toys or
products is not necessarily helpful, though. While the bulk of the dangerous
products we've seen recalled recently have been made in China or produced by
larger companies, that is not always the case. There are plenty of small
businesses in the U.S. that make dangerous baby products. Ill-fitting custom
car seat covers made from flammable fabrics. Pacifiers with crystals glued on
the front. Handmade clothes with improperly sewn buttons or other choking
hazards. Relaxing the safety standards for an entire group of businesses
won't do anyone any good (and to be clear, very few manufacturers are asking
for a blanket exemption). Finding a way to help small companies comply,
however, benefits us all.
Handmade and natural baby products add a lot to the baby products industry,
as do the many other small businesses that make and sell unique baby items.
CPSIA should certainly be enforced in as many workable ways possible to make
sure that products reaching our Kids Gifts are safe, even those products made by
small businesses. However, causing those businesses to fail by not allowing
them to switch to other testing and compliance methods that are more
appropriate for the scale and type of business does a big disservice to
everyone.
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