I wonder how the "pageants" are coping with this

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

I happened to watch one of the little girl beauty pageants on TV the other day. And the little girls and their moms went to a glitz pageant designer's shop to pick up their dresses/ or fittings or something, and the designer had a wall of glitz embellishments they could pick from.

Where are the bling police busting the pageants for forcing little girls to wear "hazardous dresses"? Those dresses have pounds of crystals on them, and I'm sure those moms would tear your eyes out if they were told that they couldn't let their little girls wear their pageant dresses. They pay up to $2000 on them.

Another example of how this law can't be enforced.

[Former_Member]

I think those little kid pageants are disgusting! Where are the social services for allowing that sort of nonsense?


Ever watch "Little miss sunshine?" GREAT movie! I love the ending.

[Former_Member]

I believe that you should compete with talent not parade your kid in a sparkle suit.... Shining with ability, talent and creativity should not be outshined by glitz on a frilly dress..... sad part is word "talent" has lost its meaning... anything barely above mediocraty is talent.... where did the aim for accomplishment and extraordinary has gone

Just my 2c

[TheOwieHut]

5 minutes of Little Miss Sunshine literally horrified me.

Those parents don't give a rat's ass about lead. They'd spray their little bodies down with lead if that was the current fashion for winning.

[Former_Member]

little miss sunshine was great ...lol

[TheOwieHut]

I'm thinking if the parents aren't worried about subjecting their kids to dental implants, tanning salons, hair dye and a panel of strangers telling them they aren't pretty enough... a little lead in the swarovski is not even a blip on the radar.

[Former_Member]

OwieHut, soooo funny! Couldn't have said it any better!

[Former_Member]

I get the feeling that these moms never gre out od playing-with-dolls age and parade and dec their daughters to show of who got the best "doll"... sad

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

I wasn't really trying to start a discussion on the reasons why parents and children participate in pageants, but how this law can't possibly be enforced.

The word has not been spread, and having the end user test will never be workable. If they were really concerned about lead in products the original manufacturer of the product would have to make the "bling" or zipper or button or whatever lead free. After the fact will never work.

When you can walk into a store and buy buttons, zippers, bling that are accessible to everyone, people are going to believe they are perfectly safe to use. Now we all know that the vast majority of products are perfectly safe, and really no one should be worried about them.

And really the same is true with Swars crystals. The lead can't hurt anyone because the way the product is made, but the law says "any lead absorption", so that is why they are outlawed for children.

[mouchette]

(Owie here again)

Sorry - those shows piss me off.

For real though... it will be interesting to see if the people who hold these pageants bother with any sort of education or enforcement for the parents.

[mouchette]

I'll add.. since they are only holding a beauty pageant and not actually selling childrens products- I'd say they are off the hook. It's not their responsibility at all unless they are providing something the kids are wearing which they aren't.

The policing of the bling needs to happen at the retail store level long before the child is in the pageant.

[Former_Member]

Even if the government was able to police this at every store, e-seller, and weekend craft fair concerning children's products, customers that want their children to wear or play with what the governement considers "hazardous substances" will still manage, somehow, to get what ever they think will give their child an edge at something. As said before the customer simply needs to walk into their local craft store to buy what is "hazardous" for children but fine for adults item they want their child to have and add it to what was previously was a compliant item. It won't matter if the parent, a coach, a tailor, or a customizer adds the "illegal" for child component if there is a demand there will be a way found to achieve the desired effect.

[studiostebbylee]

Little children Beauty Pageants aside-
it's struck me for some time now-
that the only way this law is going to get sorted out
is when a whole slew of "enforcements and fines"
are brought to court and challenged.

[Former_Member]

There were already regulations in place. They didn't need a new law, it was just something the politicians thought would help them get reelected. Show they care for the children.
And how many zippers could your kid have to swallow to get dangerous lead levels?

[Former_Member]

I agree with FayeMaloneDesigns ... there should be a law that the items have to be safe from the production point.... I dont see whey someone who buys zippers or butts for one project or a wholsale should be conceren about hazardous materials in a zipper... zipper (or any item) should be safe dor a 6 year old just as much as an adult..... if the item is made for adult clothing and does not meet these standarts then as amother who wears a cloting with this "zipper" and is holding a baby, who might be "ecxposed via mouth" to this zipper is just as bad as making a sleeper whith this kind of zipper ...this law is a legistics nightmare.... the items houd have production standarts... so down the line anyone should not be worried about what is it the supplied materials

[Former_Member]

FayeMaloneDesigns says:

I wasn't really trying to start a discussion on the reasons why parents and children participate in pageants, but how this law can't possibly be enforced.

------------
I agree completely. They've made the law so onerous that it can't be complied with by most people, so they'll either go out of business or ignore it. Maybe we should start a crafters underground.

[PlaygroundCouture]

I agree. Here I am afraid to add a zipper or a button, and they are loading those kids down with lead...it's a shame what this has all caused.

[Former_Member]

Do the pageants have safety rules regarding the cosmetics and hairproducts used on the girls? Some of them are truly babies--wondering about their eyes and breathing all that stuff..?

So many reports out now about scary stuff in makeup and from what I have seen, those little babes are coated in it.

[Former_Member]

beadboxsupply says:
Do the pageants have safety rules regarding the cosmetics and hairproducts used on the girls? Some of them are truly babies--wondering about their eyes and breathing all that stuff..?

So many reports out now about scary stuff in makeup and from what I have seen, those little babes are coated in it.


-----------------

My sister's friend was a baton twirler when we were kids and her mom was this hardcore pageant mom and would do all the make up and tiny outfits and stuff. Well anyway, her hair broke off at the roots from all the hair spray and silicone they'd spray in her hair. She came into school the one day and wouldn't take her hat off and here it was because the silicone made almost every strand just snap right off from the build up!

Hair spray is disgusting. If I saw someone putting it on their young kid I'd smack them.

[MerrillLand]

The onus should be on the manufacturer. After all, something I buy and put on my kids personal clothing should be just as safe as something I sew on an item to sell.

[Former_Member]

electricbluebird says:
The onus should be on the manufacturer. After all, something I buy and put on my kids personal clothing should be just as safe as something I sew on an item to sell.
____________________________________________________________

One of the problems with this law is that the federal government is working on the premise that products including crafting materials like Swarovski beads and iron-ons are safe for an adult to use or wear, but that same product is too "hazardous" to be included on a product that is made expressly for a child under 13. The writers of this law think because even if the child doesn't swallow the piece of crystal there maybe lead dust shed by the product that the child will touch and then place their hand in their mouth ingesting the lead into their system. BTW there is no lead dust shed by Swarovski crystals unless the crystal itself is ground down into the dust, the lead oxide used by Swaorvski is chemically joined to the glass used to make the cyrtsal and can not be seperated through physical means only.
So the federal government has banned the use of anything that contains lead over 300PPM or 0.03% of the weight of the individual component to be used on a child's product though they deem it fine to be used by an adult even if that adult is in constant contact with a child.