video recording of CPSC public meeting

[Former_Member]

I haven't had a chance to watch this, but it's the video from the public meeting held on January 22nd (two meetings, actually). One on apparel, and one on books.

CPSC Public Meetings: Apparel and Footwear (http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/apparel.html) and Books (http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/publishers.html)


I apologize if this has been posted, I didn't see it when I looked.

[Former_Member]

Marking to watch later.

[Former_Member]

watching now!

[Superflykidz]

marking - thanks!

[happywhosits]

I tried to watch, wanted a login and password?

They also posted the presentations of the industry experts that you can see on-line.

Eileen...

[Former_Member]

watching...I can't help but feel that Nord is on our side--- she said this:

"In these dramatic and drastic economic times we are hearing from 1000s of micro-producers, home crafters, thrift shops and small retailers that the new testing and certification requirements that go into effect on Feb 10 will have catastrophic effects on them and these are not big faceless companies but whose efforts are the backbone of this economy--- "

[Former_Member]

willing to expand product exemptions...but need scientific basis...

[Former_Member]

marking

[Former_Member]

Steve Lamar
American Apparal and Footware Association
FIber through finished product is there to:
-1. State there is no lead in textiles natural or dyed, processed or unprocessed
2. Explain why that is the case

The following people are there to speak:
Sr Dir of Product Safety- Walmart
Mgr- Testing JCPenney
Q& A Mgr Children's Place
VP Supply chain Coats and Clark
National Cotton Council

[Former_Member]

JC Pennys reports:
1100 apparel items wet tested--- 0 failures for lead
200 items in inventory, each with multiple components-
---0 failure rates
this includes 100% cotton, poly cotton, nylon, poly, and each of these mixed with Spandex

Some issues with rhinestones, grommets, zippers, etc...

[Former_Member]

Children's Place:
All fabrics passed testing; some components did fail (zippers, plastic buttons, rhinestones, etc).

Recommends that textiles be exempt since natural and synthetic fibers do not contain lead-- and even through spinning, coating, etc no chemicals are introduced...

[Former_Member]

Coats and Clark- used knitting supplies as a sample-
on over 2000 tests there has been no detection of lead

[Former_Member]

I am pretty sure Mary Nord is on our side. Didn't she replace the original head of the CPSC? I don't believe she was involved in the actual writing of this horrible law.

Will watch this later when I have a couple of minutes. Thanks for posting.

[asherjasper]

Wow - sounds very promising. Will watch later.

[Former_Member]

oh cool. marking to watch :)

[Former_Member]

A prof. from the Catawba Community College tried to pregnate cotton fibers with lead dye- fibers were soaked for long amounts of time, no rinse or one rinse (industry standard is 2) and found that even those soaked in a leaded dye solution only come up at 63 ppm. Further tests revealed that lead would never be used because it is an inefficient mordant (sp) and results in a poor dye experience.

[Former_Member]

I am just done watching it.
There is some hope for us...after all.

[Former_Member]

I can't get either video to open. Tried both Firefox and IE and nothing? I wonder if it is getting too many hits.

[Former_Member]

Valeriya-
You watched it too?
I just feel like the CPSC is doing their best...and the people they called in did a great job showing that there is no lead in the textile supply chain.

[Former_Member]

Consultant for the Cotton Council:
35+ years experience in textile industry
End product should not have to be tested. Zero levels are being found because lead is not introduced and will not be found. Synthetic materials could not contain lead because if lead was added, they would not have the properties that make them desirable.

[lilbritknits]

Promising news - but my concern now is with buttons and zippers etc that are testing positive - I hope that there are some solutions in the works. There are just too many items that require buttons and zippers.

[Former_Member]

Here are clickable links - but I still can't get them to open
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/apparel.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/publishers.html

[RocketBug]

If textiles were exempt, would non-textile parts of the garment still need to be tested? I'm assuming so? I'm thinking about snaps in onesies. Of course, if the law was amended to not be retroactive for lead, I'd be fine with snaps needing to be tested. I just don't want to have to worry about all of my inventory!

So happy to see progress being made. Can't wait to see the outcome of this meeting.

[Former_Member]

Both of the reps from JCPennys and The Children's Place stated that they did have problems with zippers, plastic buttons, crystals, snaps, etc-- but they also said there was no rhyme or reason as to why they failed. One of them actually said that you be looking at two identical crystals and one would pass and one would not...so trying to test and track is very problematic...

Be forewarned-- the video runs 1:23-- and you will know more than you ever thought you would about the textile process-- but I think it gave me an even greater ability to explain why there is no- and will never be- lead in fabric....

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much for posting this. It sounds promising!