Save Handmade.

I've had the graphic in the sidebar here for a couple of weeks now with no explanation! Hows that for an example of the holiday's wreaking havoc on any kind of consistency and routine in my life?

In a world full of melamine laden food, and chemical enriched toys, some folks decided to deal with the matter by creating a piece of legislation. CPSIA - Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act was passed in August of 2008 to be implemented February 10, 2009.

The basics of the legislation state that any business making any product for people under the age of 12, must meet certain standards. The act bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third party testing and certification for each toy, and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. Sounds pretty good right? I am all for actions that will prevent toxic chemicals from being used in any product, not to mention, those products destined to be in the lives of our precious youth. Bring on accountability and responsible manufacturing. For the huge, multi-national,corporate toy, clothing, furniture manufacturers, the CPSIA will be little more than a troublesome shift in procedure, perhaps a slightly less than comfortable shift in profit which is sure to be passed on the the consumer.

HOWEVER, the CPSIA will impact small business in a devastating way. At an estimated $4000.00 per item to get third party testing and certification, many small toymakers and manufactures of children's products, will simply be out of business. This will impact your favorite shop for handmade children's items at etsy.com and your local craft markets too. What about your local children's store that imports handcrafted children's items from another country? That retailer will have to either assure that the items have already been certified according to CPSIA standards, pay for it themselves, stop carrying those items in their store, or I suppose, break the law and sell them anyway.

In my world of striving to be more of a local, handmade consumer, I can see how this legislation will impact my life. Hence the graphic and link in the sidebar.

Links for additional information:
Handmade Toy Alliance
Cool Mom Picks
Ideas for Change, a proposal to save small business from the CPSIA
Save Handmade Toys & Children's Products from the CPSIA Petition