Is there a survey that consumers can take to judge the impact to them? I don’t want to have my choices for what I believe to be safe toys and clothing and books for my kids taken away, and replaced with what China and my own government “assures” me is safe…….

I was in Wal-Mart this morning and while browsing in their children’s department it dawned on me that the consequences to their suppliers is going to be astounding. I understand that Wal-Mart only pays for items after they are sold (correct me if I’m wrong). If that’s true, all non-conforming childrens items will be returned to those suppliers who will have to eat that cost. Talk about a domino effect!

Thanks for being proactive regarding this issue.

America use to have quality American made products – this began to dissapear with the NAFTA act. They removed the import restrictions to allow Oriental companies to steal and undermine American made products and to allow the loss of American jobs to over-seas out sourcing. I see this as a Government attempt to finish us all off.

This was posted by a Ravelry.com member called LostTheThread. I am headed to her blogspot to thank her profusely for finding this info about wool, fine silver, and more.
Knitters will be pleased, as will my husband, a metalsmith.

http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia09/brief/leadlimits.pdf
The doc is from Staff to the Commission and says “The staff has identified a number of materials that do not contain lead or contain lead at levels that do not exceed the CPSIA lead limits.”
It goes on to list items like wool yarn and fine silver, among other interesting well-loved materials. Check this link and hope like heck they accept Staff’s recommendations!

Is there any argument being made from the consumer end? This law takes away consumer choice.

This is the thing that I personally RESENT. I don’t have a young child of my own to buy for but I take *a great deal of pleasure* in selecting items for my niece and nephew. I go to a great deal of bother to find products from independents that I like. I spent way too much on them this Christmas in large part because I was angry that I may not have these choices anymore. In the future, if I want my niece to have a hand made doll, I’m going to have to make it (eek! make something! rather than just talk about it!) or become a criminal and buy some “banned hazardous material” out of someone’s trunk in a dark alley.

It’s not just about protecting children … it’s removing choice from the consumer.

Not only that, the Simple Dollar blog added a good point as well – used clothing is not exempt from this law! That is just insane!!! So used clothing stores will be forced to not accept (and have already started this policy apparently) children’s clothing. Not for Profit children’s stores will have to shut down (we have several in our area).

I’ve written my legislators, written a letter to the editor, and blogged about it on both of my blogs. I’m not sure what else I can do … especially since I’m not directly affected business wise.

It’s all very depressing.