It seems the lawmakers in our country are going to require that all clothing for children 12 and under be tested for lead and certain other chemicals before it is sold as of February 10th. Sound good? Consider the repercussions!
While the big clothing manufacturers will be able to pay to have their products tested, the secondhand and resale shops won't be. Yes, this law applies to them. What about the small business owners or people who make/sew children's clothing out of their own homes to sell on eBay or Etsy? Must all these people be forced out of business?
What will happen to the clothing people would have sold through secondhand shops or donated to Goodwill? It will most likely end up in landfills!
While I tend to shop end of the season clearance sales for my children's clothing, I have bought clothing for them off eBay and from resale shops. I know that some people rely on clothing from secondhand stores for most of their children's clothing.
I'm sure the lawmakers had good intentions when these potential laws were drafted, but have they considered just what it all would mean for their constituents?
It seems they are rethinking part of the rules, but will the revisions go far enough?
I don't usually get up on a soapbox and try to influence others about laws, but in my opinion, this one is ridiculous! If you agree, there is an online petition you can sign. It will be emailed to your congressmen once you fill it out.
***UPDATE FOLLOWS***
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has clarified this law. It appears that "The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit." HERE is a link to the article I quoted.
I'm not sure how this applies to people who make or sew children's clothing to sell, but I'm breathing a big sigh of relief now.
Almost all of my daughter's clothes are hand-me-downs from her cousins and what she doesn't get from them I get at consignment stores.
ReplyDeleteThis does seem like a strange law - thanks for bringing it to light. I'm definitely going to look into it more.
Hear, hear! I total agree with you. Fabrics normally do not content lead to begin with any ways, so I think it is just wrong.
ReplyDeleteI linked to you, hope that's okay! We shop consignment all the time. MVL is helped tremendously by the profits from their consignment shops!
ReplyDeleteWell that's something. I have been working on starting up a diaper service in this area. This has been an issue on a diaper biz group that I'm working with, so that should mean we would be in the clear and not need to have the diapers tested for lead. Just the normal diaper service stuff. The testing alone for the lead, is pretty pricey. You have to have 3rd party testing and it can cost upwards of $10,000.00. Many, many small business would not be able to handle that at all. Well now that I have bored you. Thanks for keep me up to date Melanie!
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