ECO baby + kids

Camden Rose Rattle

I am all for safety and boosting standards and regulations (especially when it comes to products for children) and celebrated the passing of this legislation. However, I failed to read it in its entirety — actually I just stopped at the headlines ( ban phthalates and reduce the amount of allowable lead in products intended for children under 12). It turns out that the way the act is currently written will have a tremendous impact on natural and organic toys and clothing too. It will make it next to impossible for small family owned toy manufacturers here in the US to keep operating and forget your dreams of crafting children’s products at home for resale. The problem lies in the act’s testing procedures which requires the submission of several of each toy (or garment) manufactured and a fee for the testing which runs manufacturers about $4000 for each item. When I first caught wind of this, I wanted to verify the validity so I called some of my US vendors to see what kind of impact this legislation would have on them. Most startling to me was that Camden Rose said that they will have to reduce their product offerings to 1/3 of the current selection to be able to stay in business. Camden Rose is an amazing US toy manufacturer located in Ann Arbor, Michigan that finishes their wooden toys and baby products in organic beeswax… and that’s it. Instead of testing several copies of each product style, the raw materials should be tested and the manufacturer of the paints, finishes, and plastics should be responsible for the testing not the toy companies and crafters making things from the materials or test the raw materials and keep a file of those that pass and those that do not. I also spoke with someone at HealthyToys.org who said that what they are really wanting is an overhaul in the Toxic Substances Control Act that has not been updated since the 1970’s. Upon reviewing the matter further, I can’t say I disagree. On top of it all, Selecta a well made and non-toxic German line, that we carry at Lundeby’s, pulled out of the US market. So we have few days to stick together and put forth some action to try to change the wording of this act. The Handmade Toy Alliance has started a petition click here to sign. And check out the Handmade Toy Alliance website for further information on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and actions you can take to help. Let’s help save Handmade Toys!

Toy Safety | RSS 2.0 | Respond | Trackback |