Monday, December 29, 2008

What is the CPSIA all about?

I'm sure many of you have heard about CPSIA and like me have a lot of questions. Especially if you are a seller or buyer of handmade items for children. The law is set to protect children from harmful chemicals in toys, clothing and bedding and in light of the recent scandals we've seen with lead paint and tainted baby formula, regulations are deperately needed. But from all that I've seen, CPSIA is taking the sampling requirements to an extreme and this could prevent many small businesses from providing toys and clothing for children. When in reality, the crafters and local businesses aren't to blame for the recent scandals - its actually the big businesses!

There are great resources already on the internet for information in this potential regulation. With that in mind, I am not going to rehash it all, but instead I am going to share with you some of the best (in my opinion) sources of information.

1) Fellow EtsyNJ member Greco Woodcrafting has several articles on his blog about this topic. Here are links to them:
National Bankruptcy Day: http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/national-bankruptcy-day/
CPSIA Hearing Cancelled: http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/cpsia-hearing/
More on CPSIA: http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/more-on-the-cpsia/
Directly From the Source: http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/directly-from-the-source/
Possible CPSIA Exemptions: http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/possible-exemptions/

2) Fellow EtsyBlogger Joey & Aleethea:
CPSIA of 2008 + you = change: http://joeyandaleethea.typepad.com/blog/2008/12/cpsia-of-2008.html

3) Change.Org
Save the Handmade Toys from CPSIA: http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

4) Etsy.com Storque:
Handmade Children's Items & Unintended Consequences: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act: http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/handmade-childrens-items-unintended-consequences-consumer-pr-3056/

5) Facebook Groups:
Handmade Toy Alliance: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=49551386833
Rally Against the CPSIA legislature: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=38306568596

That is just a small sampling of the information that is available about this pending legislation. Read about it, educate yourself, see if and how it will affect you and then make your voice heard.

~Melissa~

7 comments:

joeyandaleethea said...

Wonderful post! Thank you for your participation in the blog carnival, especially for such an important topic. I'm off to read the woodworking blog.

alexlady said...

great post, it's all so confusing but really important that we stay on top of it all!

www.alexladydesigns.etsy.com

storybeader said...

Shame on big business and Congress. Didn't anyone realize that they were carrying this a little too far?

Jenni said...

Thank you for a fantastic stack of links! I had a bunch collected for my post, but you've got several I did not have. :)

RainyDayArt said...

lots of good links here, thanks for getting the word out about this!

Jupitex said...

Yes, CPSIA is an impact for apparel market in US, especially for Children wear. I have take some researches in this topic and please visit the blog for more detail about it.
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Anonymous said...

Wonderful post! Thank you for your participation in the blog carnival, especially for such an important topic.