What Does The CPSIA Mean to The Consumer?

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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