Resale shops could be liable for lead
Stores can be punished under new law regulating levels of lead, chemicals
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A Mr. Potato Head figure sat inside Encore Resale Shoppe on Friday beside a small, sticker-clad toy bank with a stern message: "Top secret." Across the room sat racks of children's clothing holding everything from tiny pink jumpers with matching tennis shoes to camouflage hunting jackets.
It's items like these that resale shops will have to keep a closer eye on.
A new law goes into effect Feb. 10, regulating the amount of lead and phthalates - chemicals that increase plastic's flexibility - used in children's items.
Products cannot contain more than 600 parts per million total lead, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission news release. Certain products also cannot exceed .1 percent of certain phthalates. The law also makes it illegal to sell recalled items.
The regulations were signed into law Aug. 14 under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, according to the news release.
Resale shop owners are not required to test their merchandise, but those who sell products exceeding the legal limits could incur criminal or civil penalties, the release said.
The legal amount of lead drops to 300 parts per million on Aug. 14 of this year.
But the changes don't have Jennifer Henry worried.
"I can't imagine them walking into my store and saying everything in here has to be done away with," she said. "No one could survive that."
She admits the naked eye won't catch something like lead content, but said she watches the children's items that come in especially closely.
"I'm not going to put something out there that I feel is unsafe for children," she said.
Cuero resident Helen Youngblood was inside Encore on Friday, shopping with her sister and daughter.
As she glanced at the infant clothing, she said she had never really considered lead or plastics to be a problem with clothing.
"I'd heard of it with toys," she said, fingering the button on a pair of children's overalls, "but not clothes."
The new regulations have her thinking more about what goes into the items, she said, but she isn't exactly scared.
She just wants to learn more about the changes and what led to them.
People with the Twice Blessed Showroom - one of First United Methodist Church's outreach programs - say they don't expect they'll be affected.
The shop doesn't sell children's clothing and only takes in a limited amount of toys, said Dee Skeete, a member of the store's board.
"Most of the things we take in are upper level, games, puzzles, that type of thing," she said. "And most of the toys are wooden."
Back at Encore, Henry might not be too worried about the latest rule changes, but she admitted there were other worries weighing on her mind.
"I'm more worried about when they'll tear up Laurent in front of my store," she said.
KNOW THE RULES
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises resellers should pay special attention to products in certain categories. These include:
Recalled children's items, particularly cribs and play yards
Also products that could contain lead, such as:
Children's jewelry
...- SHOW ALL »
KNOW THE RULES
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises resellers should pay special attention to products in certain categories. These include:
Recalled children's items, particularly cribs and play yards
Also products that could contain lead, such as:
Children's jewelry
Painted wooden or metal toys
Flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts
Toys lacking required age warnings
Dolls and stuffed toys with buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that present a choking hazard.
Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety CommissionHave questions about the new rules and regulations?
More information is available on the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
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The Federales won't need to enforce the laws. That's what the Civil Court judge will do in your lawsuit.
January 11, 2009 at 8:02 a.m.My daughter is freaking out over this new law. She makes bows for a few baby boutiques & the way she reads it, she will have to send off test samples of her bows to be tested for lead, since they are targeted to children under the age of 13. Actually, they are targeted at whoever wishes to wear them, has actually sold them to dog owners also. She also works with a designer of childrens clothes who will also have to submit test samples.
These are people who make this stuff by hand from their homes, not being mass produced by child labor in China or Malasia. It is going to hurt these small people & have little affect on the giants who are causing all the harm.
We are hoping if she requests MSDS sheet on her ribbon & clips, that will suffice & keep her from having to go through all the red tape & continue to be able to sell her craft. The law is very unclear as of yet, we will have to wait & see.
January 11, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.I agree...what about last year when all the Thomas the Train and fisher price stuff was recalled....did anyone else notice that what the stores did was to move it to the end caps in the stores and mark it way down???....and what about all the cookware and plates, cups...etc...that are sold in the shores that are "made in china"....if they will use lead paint in childrens toys...and put mellomine in baby formula...why should we trust that they wouldn't use lead paint when manufacturing the items we use to cook it and eat off of? Bottom line here is that our government agencies are dropping the ball when it comes to protecting us from what is shipped into our country and sold to the general public. I agree that American companies should bring their plants back to the U.S. and put Americans back to work...but along with that...American workers need to understand the need for the company to have a healthy bottom line in order to stay in business, provide their employees with good pay and benefits...and American workers...especially the younger generations need to learn, understand, and put into practice the concept of what a good "work ethic" is instead of expecting everything for nothing. Just another problem in the pile nowdays.
January 10, 2009 at 8:29 p.m.Wow...you are sooo right.
January 10, 2009 at 10:44 a.m.Hmmmm...just check out label on the side of a can of "Anti-Bacterial spray."
Check out the hallways in a hospital....do you think these walls were painted with water-based paint?
yet another law that will be difficult to enforce...to regulate the toy makers makes the most sense...and to regulate retail stores that buy and sell toys and items that come directly from the manufacturer with all labels and tags attached also makes good sense...but when you are talking about the resale of used items and expecting these type of businesses that don't yeild profits enough to have testing done on every item in question and hold them responsible is ill thought. I assume that anyone who has a garage sale and has used toys or childrens items for sale will fall under the same laws?...and how about people who list items on Craig's list or Ebay? There are also adults who deal in and collect vintage toys and not intended for actual use by children. Seems like a little faith in the parents or consumers should be considered here. Most parents do take into consideration the hazards that may be present in the items that their kids come in contact with. With the economy in the shape it is in now...do we really need our government to increase government spending on covering the costs of enforcing this law, or opening up more small businesses to financial ruin by opening up a easy avenue to lawsuits? Maybe if they could figure out how to protect Americans by setting high safety standards and following up with more testing of the products that they allow to be shipped into this country to begin with I would have a bit more faith in them, but the evidence is to the contrary as shown in the past couple of years...they can't even keep American toy makers in line when it comes to safety.
January 9, 2009 at 11:41 p.m.