People who are the least likely to survive any more economic disaster are going to be hurt by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
Resale shops will have to test all the items they carry, and the expense will put them out of business; their stock will be destroyed. Charity organizations that provide clothing, and even books, to people in need, will have to test all items or dispose of them(and not give away, but throw away).
Those already struggling to survive will be harmed the most: people relying on resale shops, small business owners (including 4RV Publishing), people needing aid from charities, schools and libraries (all books will have to be tested or destroyed).
People who handcraft one of a kind items will be required to test each item, causing them to go out of business, and if they don't test each item in their inventory, the inventory must be destroyed.
I wish I had kept all the URLs about this topic that I've read the past two days, but I didn't.
Holly Jahangiri, on Do I Have to Spell It Out, posted the following:
For additional information, search for "CPSIA" and "books". Here's a good post that goes into some detail:
http://bookshopblog.com/2009/01/04/book-burning-on-feb-10th-2009-due-to-cpsia/#comment-2557
Here's a copy of the letter sent out by Amazon.com:
http://issues-in-publishing.blogspot.com/2008/11/cpsia-sneaking-up-on-us.html
The law has already passed and goes into effect NEXT MONTH, so this is urgent.
Yes, CPSIA is a bad law which will do more harm than good. Lawmakers are the only ones who benefit because they can state they did something: too bad what they did is lacking in brain cells. Children, in the long run, are harmed, not helped.
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9 comments:
Vivian,
This is AWFUL !!
How have things got to such a pitch in the "Land of the Free"??
This is more the "Elfin Safe-tee Nanny State Attitude" which we on THIS side of The Pond have had to battle with for YEARS now!
BRB .... just going to Goofle and see if I can come up with a resumé of the situation in the UK .........
Totally crazy, Vivian. Thanks for blogging about it.
http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com
I'm amazed at how easily the government can do things and we don't notice.
In going to the government site, it is interesting that they say that small businesses will not be adversely affected because they (the Act) have excluded certain raw materials from testing as they are stipulated to have no lead content in them. One is wood, which one MIGHT assume would be extended to paper. But, nothing about glue, or ink.
Thanks for keeping us updated.
Messed up last comment, and no way to edit.
I hope everyone is contacting their U.S. representatives in the House and in the Senate as well as newspapers.
Raw materials doesn't help those providing finished products. *sigh*
It really is awful and I just can't understand the logic behind it all.
Can't they just start fresh and eliminate all the bad components from future publications instead of doing this insane procedure?
Did anyone thought of the outcome?
Im so angry right now, and only one person comes to mind. I think I will go cut the bush behind the house to relieve the pressure. ;)
Just remember the party with control in both houses, the party that passed this law with enough votes to over ride any veto.
We can't blame any one person or one party, actually.
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