The so-called toy safety law, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), was quietly signed into law by Pres. Bush on August 14, 2008.  Many supporters advocated it as a solution to the recalls of lead-tainted toys and necessary to prevent harm to our children, including the tragic death of a 4 year old boy in 2006 from ingesting an almost pure lead heart shaped charm that was a gift with a purchase of Reebok shoes.

Although several portions of the law have already been implemented, on February 10, 2009, just a few short weeks away, the bill’s cornerstone will come to pass – we will have a national limit on lead in children’s products. We will also have a ban on certain phthalates in children’s toys and child care articles, which we will talk about in a separate blog entry.

What does this mean to you? Well, it means that the children’s items you buy may be safer, but it also means that you may have less of a selection. As we will talk about below, many small manufacturers and handcrafters and artisans may not be selling handmade toys and clothing.

On February 10, 2009, all children’s products must meet a limit of 600 parts per million (ppm) lead.  The law defines any children’s product that exceeds this limit to be a banned hazardous substance.  And, as a banned hazardous substance, that children’s product cannot be sold or distributed in commerce. So, the law applies a lead content limit to children’s products regardless of when those products were manufactured. Existing inventory must meet the limit. Items at thrift stores and consignment shops must meet the limit, basically everything out there – from retailers to eBay.

This is actually a good thing in one sense. Lead remains the number one preventable childhood cause of childhood poisoning.  One in 5 children in the US has blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter. We see permanent adverse health effects, primarily consisting of lowered IQ, attention defiicit type/hyperactivity issues, and similar problems, with blood lead levels at 2.5 micrograms per deciliter.

Lead exposure is additive, so eliminating any exposure is a good thing. Most children are primarily exposed to lead as a result of lead-based paint and household dust containing lead. Other sources are wide and varied, and include folk remedies, leaching from water pipes and consumer products. The more lead exposure sources you eliminate, the lower the riskand adverse health effects.

But, and here’s the but, the risk from most of the children’s products regulated under the CPSIA may be relatively small. The term “children’s product” is defined to be any product intended for children under the age of 12 within the CPSC’s jurisdiction. The law imposes a lead content on everything from toys to cloth diapers to clothing to crib sheets.  Most of those products just aren’t going to have lead. But the law doesn’t, at least of yet, make a distinction between likely exposures and not so likely exposures.

All manufacturers are required to test their items (for those items manufactured after 2/10/09) and certify that they meet the lead content limit. And each manufacturer has to test.  Let’s say I buy fabric from a craft store and make a dress – I am the manufacturer and have to test. I buy certified organic fabric (which has already been tested for lead) and make it into a cloth diaper, I have to test the cloth diaper, even if all I have done is sewn it together.

To test the items can be expensive. For some items, the testing is prohibitively expensive. Some manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market because of the testing and certification requirements. Many handcrafters and artisans are closing down or are changing their businesses so that they don’t make  handmade dresses for children or simple wood toys or organic dolls. They just can’t afford the testing, even if they have been using organic fabrics and certified heavy metal free closures. They just can’t afford to test again.

And yet, at the same time, we aren’t doing much to eliminate the primary exposure – lead found in lead-based paint in older housing stock and lead in household dust. All the money spent on testing by all these manufacturers would probably be better spent educating about the benefits of washing hands to remove lead dust, using a HEPA equipped vacuum and wet wiping to remove lead contaminated household dust, and taking off shose before coming inside. Those efforts would  more significantly reduce children’s lead exposure.

Yes, I recognize that some children’s products have lead in them.  And I laud the regulation of those products.  Let’s regulate lead where we find it – children’s toys, children’s jewelry, vinyl trasnfers and films on textile, vinyl used in children’s products, etc.  Let’s even add in crystals, rhinestones, closures/fasteners and faux pearl or opalescent buttons.  But testing for lead in an organic cotton onesie dyed with certified dyes?  That’s a little silly.

In any event, yes, we may have slightly safer children’s products. But we may lose the best of those products – the lovingly made, handcrafted pieces in doing so or those small manufacturers using environmentally friendly materials.

An original post for Healthy Green Moms. You can read more from Jennifer about the CPSIA and simple solutions to reduce toxic chemicals in the home at her personal blog, TheSmartMama. And reserve a copy of her forthcoming book, Smart Mama’s Green Guide:  Simple Steps to Reduce your Child’s Toxic Chemical Exposure.

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What Does The CPSIA Mean to The Consumer?

This weekend Motrin laid a marketing whammy on themselves with a tasteless ad posted on their Mom-alogue that is just too hard to ignore. Companies generally are pretty savvy in trying to get their marketing message across so I couldn’t believe my eyes (and stay silent) when Sommer – Green & Clean Mom gave me a heads up about what can happen when a company fails to reach their target audience or worse, manage actually insult them! (Sommer is also giving away a beautiful Organic Moby Wrap so be sure to visit and enter!)

Now the controversy is raging because Motrin clearly failed to reach babywearing Moms on their Motrin Mom-alogue.To date, Twitter has now received over 2000 tweets about this issue and still counting as more Mom Bloggers get wind of this and share it with their readers. Check out Katja’s video on the overwhelming twitter response.

If you have trouble loading the video, you can read the video dialog on this ad over at Perfectly Natural Photography (thanks Barb!).

In a nutshell: Is this why you wear your baby in a sling, carrier or pouch?

• It makes you look like an “official mom“
• You are just following a trend that has questionable benefits
• You are constantly in “crying” silently in pain from back and neck pain
• But you are willing to put up with the pain for your kid

I think they were actually trying to appeal to babywearing Moms but completely missed the point in making an emotional connection with Moms, much less relate to our pain! What amazes me is that Johnson & Johnson (branch of Motrin) that has been in the business of children and parents for decades would totally misrepresent and completely miss the mark on babywearing, the benefits and extensive history.

Here’s an idea: How about an ad that celebrates baby wearing, acknowledges that baby wearing has been around forever, and discusses the benefits of carrying your baby while adding that on tough days you can count on Motrin for handling your aches and pains. The same objective but with two completely different messages!

Apparently it’s not the first time Johnson & Johnson has completely missed the mark on connecting with their main niche, moms like us! Organic Mania blogs about a retreat Johnson & Johnson had for moms where there was no child care available and breastfeeding moms were not permitted.

To add insult to injury the Motrin ad comes out during International Babywearing Week

To be fair the ad does point out a legitimate concern for some parents about back or neck pain from carrying their child, however they failed to point out that it is usually from incorrectly positioning a baby or from wearing a carrier that is poorly fitted to your body. This adds to their overall disrespectful tone in the ad. The Smart Mama also points out that those awful infant carriers do far more damage and crafted a great letter to Motrin in response to their ad. I wear Liv on my hip with the help of a pouch because it too painful to hold in my arms for any period of time without a carrier!

Now Motrin is left scrambling for a social media lesson on twitter, managing the major media damage and a boycott from parents. Oh, if I could be a fly on the wall at the ad company for Motrin on Monday morning. Eeks!

Regardless of your chosen method for toting your wee ones, I hope Moms will stand together on this. We should support each other for the decisions we each make that are best for our family. No company should be able to misrepresent or make fun of a parenting decision without understandable backlash from the Mom community.

Read the response from Motrin to Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess. What do you think about Motrin’s reply? Here are some suggestions from Amy for for taking further action on this issue.

I also blogged about Homeopathy As An Effective Alternative, Thankfully, we have had little use for Motrin type stuff. The homeopathy has been a wonderful alternative that I completely trust for Liv’s aches and illnesses.

What do you think about the video? Would you boycott a company for an ad like this?

Hey, come visit the me and leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this article, thank you for giving it a boost on social media. © All rights reserved. This post is from HealthyGreenMoms and cannot be republished without express written permission.

Motrin To Help “Suffering” Babywearing Moms