This is the 3rd and 4th paragraph from the ACTUAL bill.

The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties.

When the CPSIA was signed into law on August 14, 2008, it became unlawful to sell recalled products. All resellers should check the CPSC Web site (www.cpsc.gov) for information on recalled products before taking into inventory or selling a product. The selling of recalled products also could carry civil and/or criminal penalties.

Read the whole thing here. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

Jan, 7th 2009 LA Times Article on the issue

As far as consignors, yard sales, etc go, the law does not apply to them in the same way. Go to http://www.babycheapskate.com. Her most recent post about it clears up a lot of the misconceptions (sorry, I don’t have the direct link).

As far as pennypile goes, I think you guys were a little hard on her. She has a wonderful blog and is very interested in helping others save money. She was just expressing her opinion, there was no reason to personally attack her.

I understand the helpless feelings everyone has about this. It could potentially affect my livelyhood too, but I think it’s being blown out of proportion on the internet and scaring people unneccasarily. Good luck to everyone!

if there is one thing that bothers me, it is groups tugging at emotions by exploiting children. think about the children, protect the children, save the children. stop it!

i don’t see how children are different from anyone else. what if you have a big 10-year old that wears clothes from the juniors department? why stop at age 12? are people over age 12 immune to the effects of lead?

so why not test everything? according to some of you, testing for lead will cause stores to go out of business. so i guess we can’t test everything, because then we can only get toys at places like costco, which will cause prices to go up due to lack of competition, then we can’t afford that new “dance-n-go elmo” and OMG WHAT WILL WE DO?!?

why did it take this for people to be disgusted with lawmakers? oh, it’s because now you’re affected by it. remember when gas prices were high, you were upset because it affected you. remember when the bank bailout happened, you weren’t upset until you realized it kind of affected you. remember when your neighbor’s mother died from cancer, kind of affected you, upset. travolta’s kid, we don’t care because it has nothing to do with us. and why are people so convinced that this will destroy the economy? because it has personal investment.

think of the law this way: some lawdog pitched this lead-testing idea because it was “for the children”. no one can vote against that, because then they’re viewed as not caring about children. checkmate.

I’ve written to my senator and can only hope that this does not go any further. Until then, my doors will remain open and I’m still accepting toys and clothes. I check every single toy on the CPSC website and subscribe to their email list of recalled children’s items. I work hard to make sure that the items I sell are safe, my kids play here too!

Let’s keep making a fuss to everyone we can and make our voices heard!

Link to my blog post. I’m shocked I’m the only commenter so far to disagree some. To each their own!

By mailing your Senators and Congressmen the used clothing it will draw more attention to the situation than just a letter. A letter takes up little office space, the clothing will pile up and become an eye sore. Imagine if each Senator and Congressmen received just 1,000 letters with a piece of clothing in it. That’s 1,000 pieces of clothing. It’s hard to ignore that.

LET’S BE HEARD!

Fabric is already required to be tested and has a more stringent allowable contaminate count than this new law requires. The same for toys etc. Prior to this ignorant and unneeded law being passed a study was published on random, independent toy testing for lead – ALL toys tested passed! I can’t find the link because I have read soooo much on this and haven’t been able to backtrack to that page. If I find it I’ll post it.

Yes, there have been issues with Foreign made lead tainted toys and jewelry but rather than implementing a law that required independent testing of Foreign made product Congress passed one of the most poorly written and far reaching laws to ever be put on the books!

This is what people need to know: The way the law is written now, all end product has to be tested regardless of if all the components that product is assembled from have already tested safe! THAT along with the retroactivity of the law (remember we don’t have a problem with lead tainted children’s products as a whole) and broad scope are the main problems with this law.

Congress has placed a huge, expensive burden of redundant testing on the end assembler and not on the component manufacturer which is where it needs to be. The economic damage that will, and already is, being caused by this law is unconscionable. Right now, today, business owners are not buying the product (already independently tested and documented safe) they normally would at this time of year because they will not be able to afford the government mandated redundant testing. Businesses are liquidating the children’s product they have now and are not planning to replace it. Some businesses are even shutting their doors because of the uncertainty.

If you call the CPSC and ask them about how the law will be implemented or how it will affect you they either say “we don’t know” or you will get conflicting answers!

As a very small “manufacturer” myself – I sew custom children’s clothing – on Feb. 10th I will not be allowed to sell my designs even if I have documentation from ALL my suppliers regarding lead content/testing. I buy mainly organic, earth friendly and usa made items whenever possible!!!

I support lead COMPONENT testing for our children!

I cannot believe even mypennypile thinks this law, as it is currently written, is a great addition to our lawbooks. This law is driving all the small companies, built on supplying a quality and safe product to America’s children out of business. NOT because they have a “toxic” product but because they can’t afford to redundant test a product that is already proven safe through it’s components – then mypenny will only be left with Target, Walmart and China to purchase from.

I’m disgusted with our lawmakers…

For those who worry about the clothes going to a landfill, that’s not where they’ll end up. They’ll end up in third world nations, where America’s used clothing castoffs end up being sold in street markets for pennies. You won’t believe how many Africans or Central Americans are walking around in your company’s tshirts from five years ago. You know, the ones you gave to Goodwill and they couldn’t sell? That’s where our unsold, used clothing ends up.

After Feb 10th…you can’t give them away, you can’t consign them or sell them in a garage sale. You may not even legally be able to put them in a landfill, who knows because this “act” is a big bunch of confusing stuff! What changed? They are the same items you had Feb 9th, right?

But on Feb 10th, I can’t sell them either, in my consignment store. I’ll go out of business pretty fast. Target and Walmart can’t sell what’s on their shelves either, unless they have documentation showing they are lead/phthalate free. Same stuff, just now it needs “papers”. They’ll lay off people, too. Smaller stores will slowly go under, trying to absorb the losses for awhile and finally giving up.

I feel like we are in some kind of socialist nightmare. Next the government will tell us what kind of vodka we can drink…geez, and I’m too young to remember much of the cold war with Russia, I thought!

This is absolutely nuts! I’m 100% in favor of children’s safety. I don’t resell cribs (too many recalls), car seats (too many old ones floating around, geez, people, just shell out $50 for something you’ll use for a few years, it’s for your kids safety!) and we check all our toys against recalls for any reason. We don’t sell bathrings, etc. I memorized what date codes are affected by the Fisher Price lead recall last year. I do everything I can to keep kids safe. I just want to stay in business and not lose everything I’ve worked for for the past 4 years…

To those who think this testing is great and wonderful and worth saving our kids brains – well, do we really have a problem with lead in clothing? If it’s actually occurring, then we should look at ways to eliminate it. But I don’t see the point of testing for something that is not happening. I have seen recalls for lead in buttons, zippers, and so forth, but I honestly cannot recall any cases of lead in fabric. Phthalates – well, maybe those are causing problems in clothing and the inspection/elimination could be improved.

This truly does effect everything. Many have mentioned resell and thrift shops. But that is not all this will effect. It will hit Ebay, Craig’s List, Consignment Sales, Yard Sales, even to the point that if a group of mothers did a private swap they could be fined if discovered. Ladies this is a nightmare waiting to happen if we don’t stand up and open our mouths.

This is more the rich get richer and the poor get poor insanity that our country can not afford!

Don’t take this to mean that I don’t worry for my children’s health and safety because I do. Like all mothers I worry about making sure my children are provided the safest environment possible to grow up in but this law is taking things too far. At what point we are willing to risk our economy (fragile as it already is) and the welfare of those among our society that are already poor and down trodden we are risking the vary fabric of our nation and doing so with a smile on our faces.

It will effect ebay, craigslist, etsy, consignment store, retailers and manufacturers.

It will affect businesses, small and large.

Many companies will go out of business. One school supply company would have to pay $20 million dollars to have all their products tested.

Even if a products is assumed to contain no lead would still have to be tested and certified before it can be sold or giveaway.

One vendor who makes a $20 kids applicade t-shirt would have to pay $1200 to have it tested and certified. Each fabric, color or component requires a separate test and fee.

If this goes through, MILLIONS of people will be losing their jobs. And MILLIONS of others will not be able to afford clothing, baby bottles, toys for their kids…this really has no end to how it will affect the Average Joe’s family.

And, you won’t be buying any “cute wooden toys” from local craftspeople because they WON’T BE ALLOWED TO SELL THEM without undergoing $1000′s of dollars worth of testing…what home crafter can afford that?

And, if Target closes? Not drastic? According to Ask.com, Target employs over 350,000 people. If 10% lose their jobs (assuming just the toy departments cease to exist) then that is 35,000 families affected. And that is just one company.

If my store closes, and we are barely hanging in there as it is, I lose my income, my house, etc and thank God my car is paid for because I’m gonna be living in it.

Comments such as “losing good sales at Target is hardly drastic” show a complete lack of understanding of the system of commerce in the US. Our entire ECONOMY will be turned upside down if this happens.

I found this new law to be absolutely ridiculous and hope that changes are made. Many of the resale shops will be put out of business and majority of the stores that sale clothing will no doubt bump up the price on clothing to cover the lead testing.

With the way the economy is right now and many people losing their jobs left and right, they can’t afford new clothing that is going to cost anywhere from $20 up for 1 kids outfit.

I buy the majority of my children’s clothing from garage sales, craigslist and freecycle. I can’t afford to go out and buy new clothing all the time for growing kids! This is insane!!!

Here is the link to where my husband first found it:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/01/03/hand-me-down-clothes-in-the-post-hand-me-down-era-consumer-protectionism-gone-too-far/