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Consumer Products Safety Commission on lead levels in children products

By admin On June 7, 2009 Under babies eczema, baby eczema cream, baby eczema treatment

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) was formed in the 1970s and for more than 30 years, it has taken the responsibility of safeguarding consumers against the dangers of suffering injuries that results from the use of consumer products. Under the Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was signed into the United States law to further strengthen the safety measures required in consumer products.

Most recently, through the law, the Commission has planned to substantially reduce children’s exposure to lead. The resultant destruction that lead poisoning causes includes brain damage, kidney problems and even death. Towards the end of the 1970s, the problem was so serious, that millions of children in America had been tested that they had elevated blood lead levels that were deemed unhealthy!

The CPSC noticed the severity of the situation and have decided that any children product that consists more than 600 parts per million (ppm) of lead in any part of an accessible product would be seen as dangerous. Which means that any children’s product from toys to baby nursery bedding which contains more than 600ppm would be dangerous for children under the CPSIA.

The CPSC has also defined that any person at the age of 12 years or younger would be seen as children under the eyes of the law and all goods that were manufactured with the intention of selling mainly to the these group of children will have to comply to it.

This law also applies to all baby nursery bedding, nursery decoration, toys and children’s products that were manufactured before the date of the law that was implemented. The Commission also requires all finished products that were made after 90 days since the creation of the rule to be assessed by an accredited third party. This is to assure that manufacturers comply to the safety rules that the Commission has implemented.

Futhermore, the Commission has shown their determination in making all products non-toxic by planning to reduce the limits to 300ppm in August and further reduce it again in 2011 to a level which is seen reasonable according to the technology available by then. However, with the rapid advancement of technology, all toys and baby nursery bedding might contain only traces of lead and would be extremely safe for use in the near future.

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One comment - add yours
Jen

June 8, 2009

The efforts of the CPSC to reduce kids’ exposure to lead is the reason that Fisher-Price and Mattel recently settled on a $2.3 million fine for the toys they had manufactured in China in 2006 & 2007 and which the CPSC recalled in 2007 for being over the legal lead limit. It was Congress who stepped in after that episode to strengthen and broaden the existing laws with the CPSIA of 2008.

While the new regulations further decrease the amount of lead and phthalates across an enormous range of products (which is great) what you have left out is the fact that Congress, backed by powerful lobbyists, crafted a law that is so broad and far-reaching that along with reducing the amount of unsafe items on the market, in effect, they are also reducing the amount of SAFE and NATURAL products on the market through regulations that require product testing, certification and labeling that small batch manufacturers simply can’t afford. (Think home crafters: wooden toys, hand-knit sweaters, custom baby blankets, slings, clothing, accessories, specialty products for the learning disabled, etc.). If you are not a fan of mass-produced goods, you may soon find yourself with no other options. Not because small companies’ products are non-compliant, but because they can’t afford to prove them safe. Sadly, the irony of this situation is that the Big Guys that caused the lead scare in the first place by mass-producing and importing tainted goods are the ones who can afford to comply with the law and who will benefit from fewer competitors, while the small companies offering an (often natural) alternative to those products will soon be forced out of business.

It should also be noted that because Congress made this law retroactive, it’s now illegal to sell used clothing and other goods for kids under 13 without first testing them for lead! This does, in fact, include garage sales, ebay and craigs list! You can find all the details on the
CPSC’s website:
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

and user-friendly answers to common questions here:
http://www.whatisthecpsia.com/

While well-intended, this law could be made better by keeping the limits on harmful substances, but allowing small players a more reasonable and affordable method to prove compliance, such as component testing. Tell Congress it’s great that they are trying to protect our kids, but if they could do it without destroying family businesses, that would be even better.

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