Help Save Homemade Toys!!

Graphic by Hilary Williams of Blynken & Nod

via Handmade Alliance website

As you may know, since the detection of lead and other harmful toxins in children's toys and accessories in 2007,  the United States Congress enacted a law known as CPSIA: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
This well intentioned law is poised to not only wipe out small manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere and force some beloved European manufacturers to pull out of the American market. It, also in effect,  rewards the exact companies responsible for the toxic recalls in the first place.  This is how it stands now, all manufacturers of children's clothing, accessories and toys will need to have their products tested by a third party to ensure safety in the next 276 days. They will need to pay to test each product in every variation it's made. So if you are a maker of wooden toy vehicles, you would need to test every vehicle in every color you sell.  Some business owners are seeing that they will have to test upwards of 25 items all for thousands each test.  To make matters worse, Mattel has been able to lobby Congress to allow them to opt out of third party testing. Instead they have been grated the right to test directly on site in at least seven locations. They were recently granted the right to open up four more private testing facilities.  This is horrifying since Mattel has recalled more than 20 million toys since 2007! 
Oh, it might be helpful to mention that Mattel has paid the government body in charge of this the CPSC: Consumer Product Safety Council upwards of 2.3 Million dollars.
BUT...
There is hope at the end of this dark tunnel right now as  groups are rallying together to stop this legislation from being passed. The battle cry was sounded by the tireless founder of the Handmade Alliance and owner of Craftbury Kids: Cecilia Leibovitz. She and her colleagues  have been to Washington to try and help get better legislation passed. Recently, our favorite Mahar Dry Goods has dedicated space on their site asking for a call to action! We, too, ask that you take a moment of your day to preserve small business and the safety of toys in the USA by contacting your representatives today!
Save the world of toys!