Small businesses seek relief from product safety law - bizjournals:

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Congress passed the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act in August 2008 in response to the discoverty of high lead content in toys importerdfrom China. But U.S. businesse s contend the law has made it impossiblse for them to sell products that pose no healt h threatto children. Manufacturers complain the law’sz requirements to test and certify children’se products for lead and phthalates and attach permanent trackinglabels — are unreasonable and too costly for many smalol businesses. Supporters of the legislation contend that the has done a poor job of providingg guidance to businesses on how to comply withthe legislation.
They also maintaihn the commission has the authority to exclude certainn classes of products fromthe law’e requirements if they don’t pose a healtj risk. But Nancy Nord, actingb chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety testified at a May 14 House hearing that the agencgis “hamstrung by the law’s sweepinf reach and inflexibility.” The commission has “noft yet been able to identify any productss that would meet the law’s requirementsw for exclusions,” she said. On Jan. 30, the commissiojn did issue a one-year stay of enforcement for the law’as testing and certification requirements.
“Itf was very clear people were not ready to meet the Nord said. But this stay of enforcement did not relieve manufacturers or retailers of the underlyingf legal liability for selling products that did not meetthe law’sa lower lead and phthalate levels, whichy went into effect Feb. 10. “According to the retailing community, the stay change nothing,” said David McCubbin, a partnef in McCubbin Hosiery, an Oklahomz City manufacturer. “Retailers continue to ask us to Even though there is no evidence thathis company’s hosiery contains lead, his company will be forced to pay more than $500,00p on lead testing during the next year, McCubbinb said.
Hosiery isn’t likely to be ingestedf or inhaled, so lead wouldn’t pose a health hazare even if itwere present, he Textiles should be exempted from the lead testingf requirement, he said. For Swimways Corp., a Virginiw Beach, Va.-based manufacturer of water products, the proble m isn’t lead, it’s phthalates — compounds often used to soften vinyl. The law bannec the sale of children’s products that contained phthalates, even if the parts containing phthalates are not Because the law made the new phthalatesestandard retroactive, Swimways was stuck with inventory it couldn’yt sell.
Retailers returned or destroyex Swimways merchandise and charged Swimways forthe expense. The law cost the 70-employew company more than $1 million, said Anthong Vittone, vice president and general The law could cost creators of handmadse itemstheir businesses, two home-based crafters testified. Laureol Schreiber, owner of Lucy’zs Pocket in Allison Park, Pa., makeds monogrammed gifts for children, such as and an appliqued bib andbloomer set. Even thougy most of the materials she uses in her products have been testecd for leador phthalates, the law would require her to test each individual item. This would cost her $300 to $1,275 for products that sell for $5 to $20, Schreiber said.
Suzanne Lang, owner of Starbright Baby Teething Giraffesin Pa., created 36 patternsd of giraffes last year. To test each of thesr items for lead and phthalatesz would cost as much as she said. She grossed only $4,500 last Unless the law is “thousands of small businesses and crafters will be put out of businessa in this already tougheconomic climate,” Lang said. Rep. Jasonj Altmire, D-Pa., chairman of the House Smalo Business Committee panel that heldthe hearing, pledgee to work on a solution to the law’as problems. “This is just the first he said.
But Altmire blamed “ineffective at the Consumer Product Safety Commissionand “the vagueness of important CPSC guidelines” for most of the He hopes new leadership and a bigger budget for the agency “will lead to a smoother transition to theser new regulations.”