You’d think new product safety laws would benefit eco-conscious companies that shun pesticides and dangerous chemicals. However, a new law going into effect next month could do just the opposite.
After the many lead-tainted toy scares last year, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. On the surface, the new rules created by the Act sounds great. Starting Feb. 10, products made for kids under 12 — toys, clothes, etc. — have to be tested for lead, hopefully eliminating all those scary recalls of children’s products. Unfortunately, this Act’s now creating unintended problems that threaten fledgling green businesses!
How? Basically, testing for lead’s super-expensive — which puts many small businesses in jeopardy. Many of these small businesses include fledgling organic baby clothing and handmade toy companies!
Already, the proposed regulations have been relaxed a bit due to numerous complains. Many thrift and consignment store owners argued that they couldn’t afford to pay the steep testing fees, so the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which enforces these regulations, exempted sellers of used children’s products from lead testing.
Still, small eco-conscious companies could go out of business due to this new law. The L.A. Times reports on one such green company:
Stephanie Wood of Ojai, who owns a clothing line called “Can You Dig It? Organic Apparel,” says she will be forced to close shop. Wood’s line is made from organically grown cotton and dyed with eco-friendly fiber reactive dyes, but she’ll still be required to pay $15,000 to test her line, a cost she can’t afford in the current economy.
The same would happen to small-scale toy makers. “A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $300 - $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA,” argues The Handmade Toy Alliance. (via Treehugger)
The irony of this situation is that laws set to prevent problems created by big companies could instead hurt small businesses. The lead scares that led to this new regulation were caused by toys made in China sold by large companies. Yet while “most big merchants and manufacturers say they can handle the cost of compliance” according to the L.A. Times, small companies that never created anything remotely dangerous could go out of business.
Many groups are still pushing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make further changes before the law goes into effect. The American Apparel and Footwear Association, for example, wants the commission to allow components to get tested, instead of the finished product. And the Handmade Toy Alliance wants products made in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to be exempt from the lead testing requirement.
Want to get involved? You can write your congressperson to request changes to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, or sign a petition put together by The Handmade Toy Alliance to “Save Small Businesses from the CPSIA.”
Update, 1/30/09: Thankfully, the deadline for lead testing of children’s products has been delayed for a year. During that time, the law could get tweaked so that it isn’t so financially punitive for small businesses.
Photo: U.S.-made, organic cotton onesie by Can You Dig It? Organic Apparel
Update, 5/15/09: Lead found in $200 necklace from Saks Fifth Avenue
I wonder if there’s some way for small businesses like this to form a co-op for testing purposes, so that they can share the cost while complying with the law.
Comment by KateNonymous — January 12, 2009 @ 11:43 am
this law could cause problems for small retailers, too, if the standards are applied retroactively. the wall street journal covered this aspect back in november.
Comment by jim winstead — January 12, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
Another take,would be to explore the actual requirements for lead testing and see if one could cut costs by going a cheaper route in the testing realm. Otherwise, why should U.S. based manufactures be made to do this, if all components and their origins are disclosed?
Comment by VannyBean — January 12, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
KateNonymous, as far as I understand a co-op wouldn’t help much for testing unless the group of people are all making the same thing and using the same materials. As a person that makes many unique handmade items, this law is rather alarming. Not only do the individual components need to be tested, but the end product does as well. Also, when things are tested, they will be destroyed. From what I have read, much of this testing will also take place in China (this is due to a small number of labs available in the U.S. and a lower testing cost in China)! This does not encourage people to actually make unique, one of a kind items, but it does bode well for those that make the same item over and over.
Comment by M — January 13, 2009 @ 6:27 am
M’s correct re: each product needing to get tested. So if Mattel makes 5 million barbies, it’ll cost them like $200 to test 1 barbie and so the cost per barbie would end up being just a few cents.
But if a local craftster decided to handknit 5 baby hats from organic cotton yarn to sell at a local boutique, that’d make each hat $40 more expensive….
Comment by Siel — January 16, 2009 @ 3:30 pm