Crafters Beware

Have you heard? In an effort to protect our children's safety, the US Government is taking away freedom from the hand crafter.

Here's a quote from the article at Cool Mom Picks, a site that features cool stuff for moms & kids:

We're all for strengthening the safety standards of mass-produced toys, clothes, and accessories made in China, and banning toxins like phthalates and lead. But this year, congress passed the ill-conceived Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, a law which goes into effect in two months and will absolutely decimate the small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and crafters who have already earned the public trust.

With this act going into effect February 10 2009 so many people we love will be affected: Moms who sew beautiful handmade waldorf dolls out of home, artists who have spent decades hand-carving trucks and cars out of natural woods, that guy at the craft show who sold you the cute handmade puzzle--even larger US companies who employ local workers and have not once had any sort of safety issue will no longer be able to sell their goods. Not without investing tens of
thousands of dollars into third-party testing and labeling, just to prove that toys that never had a single toxic chemical in them still don't have a single toxic chemical in them.

Some are reading the act as if it doesn't just stop at hand crafted toys - but other hand crafted children's items as well: clothing, hair accessories, shoes, diapers. This would effect a lot of people I know - people who sell at small online shops, people who sell on Etsy, people who sell at craft shows. And myself even, as I have been a crafter & seller of children's items in the past (blankets, play silks, felt sets, diapers, bibs & other baby accessories) & had hopes of getting some stuff back on Etsy after we get settled in.

Click on that button at top right to go to Cool Mom Picks' entire article, which also includes suggestions & links for how you can take action, and lots of other resources for more information.

Here are a few mentions I've read recently on other blogs I follow:

• Don't Let Handmade Toys Become Extinct
• Auf Wiedersehen Selecta (…Good-Bye Hand-Crafted Toys?)
• Love Handmade? A Call to Action for All of Us