Consumer Alert

I found out yesterday about a law that has very recently been passed in Congress. It is known as the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act and it is stupid :P This new law falls into the category of the Governement trying to protect us too much. In it's simplest form, it states that you will no longer be able to place used children's clothes or toys into the "stream of commerce" unless you can prove that they've been tested for lead and pthalates after February 10th of this year. As I and others understand it, that means no selling items without such proof on ebay, Craigslist, yard sales, and church/organization consignment sales.

Of course, that means no buying kids' clothes and toys without certification from these sources either. This act could easily triple the amount that many families pay to clothe their kid until there are enough second-hand items manufactured after Feb. 10 to replenish the second-hand market (and even then it's likely that prices at thrift stores, etc. will be higher due to the added cost of testing them). It will absolutely eliminate the notion of recouping any of the cost of older items through reselling.

In a crumbling economy, they have passed a law that will put many consignment owners and small business children's clothing stores (that can't afford the testing) out of business. It will mean that you can no longer donate toys or children's clothing to charities and people who are struggling will have to find a way to buy new, or not at all. The law is absolutely retroactive and covers everything ever manufactured.

Words cannot express how stupid, unfortunate and wasteful this law is. Think of all of the clothing that is almost brand new that will be thrown away simply because there is nowhere for it to be passed on. Not only this, most clothing has NO potential to even have lead and pthalates in it! The exceptions are clothing items with charms or embellishments sewn on that may contain lead. I haven't figured out how exactly to protest this yet, but I figure that blogging is a good first step. I am likely going to contact my representative and raise a stink, and if this issue matters to you, then I suggest you do the same. Oh and all you peeps in Washington? Stop for a second to think about the effects of your actions before you pass laws that will be detrimental to so many. Oh, and stop trying to overprotect us... it's annoying.


*** Newly Added- If you are interested in contacting your representative, use this link https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and it will tell you who your rep is and let you email them. Also, for Texas our Senators are Kay Bailey Hutchison (http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm) and John Cornyn (http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm). I typed what I wanted to say then just copied and pasted it into each contact form. Let's flood their inboxes! If you have a blog, pass it on!