Tell Congress to Support S374

Please support S374 and get it out of Committee and vote YES on the floor of the U.S. Senate!

Consignment, thrift and resale stores may not be 'required' to test products for lead, but how else are they to know for certain whether an item meets the new laws requirements? They do not have x-ray vision! These stores can't afford to test clothings, books, and toys but face stiff criminal and civil penalties upto $100,000 per violation and jail time. Many have already removed all children's products from their stores, gone out of business and layed off their workforce because the risk persecution from the government, crusading parent's groups, and lawyers is too great. This negatively impacts thousands of cash-strapped consumers and low-income families who rely on such stores, especially during this economic crisis.

Firing Nancy Nord, and playing partisan politics between the CPSC and the Committee on Commerce and Energy will not solve the problem. 'Misinformation' is not the root of the problem. The law needs amended and only CONGRESS can amend the law to save us.

Congress has entangled the entire U.S. economy in a web of back-breaking regulation because of an isolated problem with lead contamination in Chinese products. Lead poisoning in children was once a major concern in the U.S. However:

* Between 1997 and 2006, incidence of elevated blood lead levels in children fell by 84%.
* According to an anti-pollution website, "Currently (2001), mean blood lead levels are generally well below the level of concern across all age groups." (emphasis added)
* According to the Center for Disease Control, the remaining area of concern is lead paint in older homes, and a few other "potential" dangers mainly related to the household environment. Toys and other children's products are nowhere mentioned.

Clearly, public exposure to lead is under control and improving, but highly-publicized cases of lead contamination in Chinese products has caused Congress to overreact, passing the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act" (CPSIA). Only one House member and three Senators voted against it, but those who supported it may soon regret their votes. The law . . .

* sets a low bar of acceptable lead levels in almost all children's products.
* prohibits EXISITING products produced prior to February 10th with higher lead levels from being sold. Items legal to sell February 9th became 'banned hazardous substances' overnight.
* requires independent, third-party testing of each component of new products, whether they're homemade or mass-produced.
* makes no distinction between products with a history of possibly high lead content, such as painted toys, and products that have no such history, such as children's books. All must be tested.
* imposes six-figure fines and five-year prison sentences for violations.
* empowers state Attorneys General, many of whom are headline-seeking hack politicians, to help enforce the law.

Producers must pay for the testing. Many companies will be driven out of business . . .

* According to Walter Olson a fellow at The Manhattan Institute, (overlayered.com), "The maker of a kids' telescope (with no suspected problems) was quoted a $24,000 testing estimate, on a product with only $32,000 in annual sales."
* A German toymaker that already complies with strict EU standards estimates the required testing will increase prices by at least 50%. They're pulling out of the U.S. market.
* Even homemade baby clothes for sale at fairs will have to be tested, effectively banning them.

Small, "green" manufacturers, using only organic materials, could also be wiped out because they can't afford the per-unit testing on their small production runs. This will increase the market share for large companies that are better able to absorb the compliance costs. Ironically, large toy makers, like Mattel, were responsible for the lead scare in the first place.

Librarians must remove and destroy all regular children's books made before 1985!

The new regulations could even harm the health of low-income families. Such families may have to purchase new clothes if thrift stores are afraid to sell old ones. This would leave less money in tight budgets for things like nutritious food, medicine, and heating. Many of these products and services will also cost more because of the new regulations.

The current recession makes all of these problems more severe. The regulations also risk making the recession even worse.

The law went into effect on February 10 (2009). The testing requirements start a year later. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is scrambling to adjust. In some instances they're trying to make reasonable accommodations, but the law limits their discretion. The "Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act" is flawed and at the very least it needs amended, if not scrapped.

I am writing to ask you to get S374 out of Committee and onto the floor of the Senate for a vote. I am asking that you support this bill to amend the CPSIA, the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act."

It is already bankrupting many small businesses, severely limiting the income of thousands of others and adversely affecting consumers in an already failing economy.