CPSIA: The Guidelines - Please Read Them

[#1]

As business owners, we all have the responsibility to know the CPSIA law and to judge how it affects the products we, as individuals, make and sell. And then take measures to correct our products.

By going to the CPSC website, opening the Guidelines, everything we need to know is pretty much explained.
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/smbus/cpsiasbguide.html

I used CONTROL and click on this link to open it. Not sure if you will need to.

If you click the various parts, you can get answers. If we don't take the time to read it, know what is in it, and then write letters to Congress, the media, etc., the letters will appear to contain false information and will be ignored.

I am still seeing questions, statements in threads that are not true. If sellers will only read through this Guideline, we will become a much more informed group. An informed group will have a better chance of getting changes to this law passed.

[Former_Member]

* Wood
* Other natural materials including coral, amber, feathers, fur, and untreated leather
* Yarn, dyed or undyed
* Dyed or undyed textiles (cotton, wool, hemp, nylon, etc.), including children’s fabric products, such as baby blankets, and non-metallic thread and trim. This does not include products that have rhinestones or other ornaments that may contain lead or that have fasteners with possible lead content (such as buttons, metal snaps, zippers or grommets).
* Children’s books printed after 1985 that are conventionally printed and intended to be read, as opposed to used for play
* Certain educational materials, such as chemistry sets
* Precious gemstones: diamond, ruby, sapphire or emeralds
* Semiprecious stones provided that the mineral or material is not based on lead and is not associated with any mineral based on lead
* Natural or cultured pearls
* Surgical steel
* Gold, of at least 10 karats
* Silver, at least 925/1000 pure
* Platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium


taken from

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/smbus/manufacturers.html#q2

[Former_Member]

Good info and marking for the future. thanks

[bobbinalong]

Take a look.

[Former_Member]

That's true!

[bobbinalong]

Worth reading!

[MomsantiquesNthings]

FINALLY A CPSIA PETITION IS READY!!!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/rethinkthecpsia/

please sign and post your comments!!!

THANK YOU NEEDFULTHINGSOFSALEM FOR CREATING THE PETITION!!!

[bobbinalong]

Read for yourself.

[bobbinalong]

This guideline affects all of us selling kids' items. Worth reading.

[bobbinalong]

In case you haven't read this before.

[bobbinalong]

Anyone not read these?

[Former_Member]

Marking - thanks.

[Former_Member]

very good info...thanks :)

[Former_Member]

Thanks for sharing. The guidelines are a lot more defined than the last time I read it.

[Former_Member]

I'm seeing a lot of basic questions regarding the law tonight so bumping this up..

[Former_Member]

Thanks!

[Former_Member]

Has anyone who asked a question on the site got an answer. I've asked twice about acrylic yarns and have yet to get a reply.

[Former_Member]

If I am reading the rules correctly, things like yarn and fabric, dyed and undyed, are exempt.
I'm quoting this from the answer to question #13 in the pdf:
"Children’s products made of yarn, dyed or undyed fabrics and natural materials such as untreated wood or cotton do not contain lead at levels sufficient to exceed the new lead limits."

[Former_Member]

So, am I to understand that if I sew children's clothing I can't use buttons or zippers without testing each item? I can't imagine many here make enough money to actually do testing, so I guess after August children's handmade clothing will be obsolete (if one were to follow the law)?

[Former_Member]

I know yarn is exempt from testing for lead, but what about phthalates, or flammability? And with one of a kind item, there is no way I can comply with the labeling law.

[Former_Member]

Great link. Thanks.

[Former_Member]

Ya, let's move on to labeling. Is there a place that explains what that entails? If our stuff is deemed okay, like things made of fabric, polyfil and regular thread, then do we still have to label them?

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

Yes you do. The labeling is part of the bill, but is totally seperate from the lead and phthlates issues. Have you been to the CPSC website? You should sign up to get email alerts when something new is published regarding CPSIA. As to labeling, no set rules have been established, that is part of the problem.

[Former_Member]

I don't know but I seem to be reading something else out of the info on testing. It seems to me that If you buy from a supplier that it is thier responsibilty to purchase non'lead items, have it posted[as do a lot of jewelry suppliers]It is not even feasable for a small home based business to check all items. Like in a lot of businesses Buyer Beware. Maybe now more companies will become more responsible. Look at the toy recalls from China a few years ago, thats most likly where this all became more enforced.

[Former_Member]

thanks.

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

Earthwind...

It would seem logical to all except the government that the component suppliers should be testing their batches. After all if you make 40,000 buttons in a run the cost of testing a sample of them would be miniscule. That cost could be passed along to the manufacturers of the completed item and we would easily be able to afford it. But no, in their wisdom, the government decided that only those things that were only to be used for children's items should be tested, and the ones who put them all together must test them. After all, they are only concerned about lead in children's products. So all those 40,000 buttons that go on cards and are sold at Joann's and bought by individual crafters who use them on a variety of products, somehow will be injecting lead in to them by some miracle of science in our studios and must be sent off to certified labs and destructivly tested. And of course, you will get a report back that no lead was found, along with the bill for $500. This is a total scam, and I want to know how many of the labs that are now out there and will be created to meet the demand for testing, are owned by the families of those on the take that passed this law.