a little business...with big changes...

{ UPDATE }
thank you so much for those of you that have emailed, called, and left comments with "how do I help?". I have found a few more ways to help & become more educated...

• Participate in CPSC Public commenting: Until January 30th, 2009 the CPSC is taking public comments on Section 102 ofthe CPSIA. Email them here: Sec102ComponentPartsTesting@cpsc.gov
• read the new law here...
• contact the Committee on Energy and Commerce {see kit}
  
• contact the President
• stay up-to-date on the current happenings
• this blogger does a fabulous job of "breaking it down"!
• for an idea of the costs this will be on small businesses...and then to you the consumer...
• recent Forbes article
• blog...take the button on the right and add it to your blog too!

....................

{ original post }
I am asking for your help friends...

There is a lot of chatter and changes rolling in the small business world...all of which increases my concern for what these changes will entail for my business and the products offered to my customers. I have heard from concerned vendors, read mommy opinions, and share in the weight of these topics with other business owners...

To share a bit of the most current topic on the table...
1st and the most pressing : as we all remember "in 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their molds to include batch labels.

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will likely drive them out of business. And the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy makers won't be the only ones impacted by the CPSIA, the thousands of US businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children --in essence-- the entire children's industry will be as well.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children's products will no longer be legal in the US.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!"

You can find the proposed solution here...

As an eventual parent {Lord willing}...I will want the utmost protection for my child. I will want to purchase handmade items for my child that are not massed produced. There has to be a way to provide this protection to all parties...without wiping out one party. As a business owner...I want this protection for my customers and myself...I want to know that the product I am selling is safe and not harmful...again...there has to be a less harsh solution.

If passed as is, this law will go into affect on February 10, 2009.

{how you can help...}

• -write a letter to your Congressman and Senator. As mommies, parents, step-parents, grandparents, friends, business owners, babysitters, aunts, etc...I urge you to do the same! I have included the links so that you can easily access who these people are in your area...and you can use, change, and copy this letter template for convenience.
• -join the facebook page to spread awareness...
• -sign the petition...{you don't have to donate to sign}
• -encourage your friends to sign and support...via here, blogging, email, etc.
  

thank you in advance from one of the many concerned business owners!

{ I will continue to add to this post as I find through friends and research other ways to help! }