CPSIA - Childrens Regulations

I blogged awhile ago about how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), while it has great intentions in terms of protecting kids, the way it goes about it is not always actually helpful in keeping kids safe and it is extremely damaging to small businesses.

A few weeks ago was a guest on David Rushkoff’s WFNU radio show, The Media Squat, with Heather Flottmann, owner of Liliputians, and fellow member of the Handmade Toy Alliance. On the program we talked about the impact of this new legislation on small businesses. You can read a little about what we had to say here.

Since I last blogged about this, it became official that I am no longer allowed to sell any more of our best selling lounge-around-the-housewear. I made a choice to make completely organic clothes because my middle child is allergic to pretty much any chemical, and so I knew their were parents out there like me desperate to find cute organic clothes. Yet since the product could be mistaken for pajamas, even though I did not adveritse them as pajamas, and because they were not treated with anti-flamatory chemicals (which are proven to reduce the size of boys testicles, and are extremely harsh and unstudied in full) the government deems them unsafe and unfit for kids. So that's my beef with government regulation going to far!

Don't get me wrong-- much of the time, I encourage government to keep consumers safe and hold companies accountable. But before small companies get targeted for products that are not actually unsafe, let's hold Big Tabacco more accountable, or the car companies more accountable for their bad business decisons.

If you want to be able to find handmade toys or other children's products, I encourage you to write to your representitives in Congress. If this legislation continues, I can promise you it won't be long till everything is mass produced, with artisans and craftspeople completely squeezed out. Let's make sure this never happens!