Eideard

“Put on your rubber gloves!”
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Librarians across the United States are making noise about new federal restrictions on lead that could take books out of the hands of children. Children’s books are covered by federal regulations on lead in items made for children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act requires all products, including books intended for children younger than 12, to meet new standards calling for lower lead content…Paper, ink, covers and glues would need to pass lead content standards.

“While we understand the process the CPSC must carry out in order to ensure this law is properly enforced and that the safety of our nation’s children is protected, we believe the commission is wasting time and resources by zeroing in on book publishers and libraries,” said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association Washington office.

“It is our hope that this matter will be resolved soon, so that libraries can continue their efforts to serve children without the threat of closing their doors.”

Well, the CPSC postponed a lot of the crap regulations. This could give politicians a chance to write sensible legislation. What are the odds of that happening?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has now announced that it will postpone lead testing requirements that would have put libraries at risk of liability lawsuits for loaning children’s books. This decision, once entered in the Federal Register, will give public libraries one year to decide how to bring their collections of children’s books into compliance.

Fact is – a boatload of politicians along with the Nanny State Crowd couldn’t pass up the flap over toys imported from China with dangerous lead levels in paint, etc.. The fact that the spec required by American firms outsourcing to China [and India and Malaysia and the Moon] didn’t include lead levels in most cases was irrelevant to political hacks both in and out of office.

The rush to pat themselves on the back with an incompetent law, quickly, publicly, attacking the Yellow Peril before Election Day was too good a chance to miss.

Unfortunately, heated rhetoric surrounding compliance is clouding the facts. For example, critics cite as “extreme” and “absurd,” the testing for lead of products made purely from wood. In truth, the CPSC has the authority to exempt materials from testing requirements where there is no risk of harm to the public health, and it has already issued a proposed rule to exempt wood and untreated wool and cotton, which we agree is the right thing to do. The CPSC also may permit some businesses to meet the testing requirements by certifying that each component used is certified or exempt. These two simple types of rules – exemptions for materials that inherently do not pose safety risks, and allowing certification of components as free of lead and other toxins – would address nearly all of the concerns raised on behalf of small businesses.

Yup. That’s part of the statement from the self-defined consumer representatives saying small businesses, retailers and libraries should shut up and leave everything in the hands of petty bureaucrats and patent-leather experts. Of course, you get to pay for any testing that questions the rules.

The CPSC originally tested – and developed regulations as a result of testing. They should consider returning to that model instead of relying on Congress and ideologues to mandate what is and isn’t safe.