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save books from the CPSIA!
Jan. 6th, 2009 08:40 pmFor my American flisters!
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babysittersclub--an act was passed that helps protect children from dangerous imported toys. WHICH IS TOTALLY COOL, right, except for the part where the act might take out a lot of small businesses.
Oh yeah and IT WOULD PREVENT ME FROM COLLECTING THE REST OF THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB BOOKS OR BUYING USED YA/KIDLIT BOOKS WHICH IS WAY THE OPPOSITE OF COOL.
From the proposal to amend the act on Change.org: There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.
And from this blog:
The truly bizarre part is that the new regulations apply retroactively. Even if it was printed 50 years ago and the publisher no longer exists, you need to have a certificate proving it’s not filled with lead. Even if it is the only remaining copy of a rare children’s book worth thousands of dollars and only will ever be handled by collectors, you cannot sell it because you can’t prove it is not filled with lead.
Anything manufactured after November 10th 2008 should have come with a certificate certifying it has been tested for lead. If your distributor didn’t provide one, you need to call and get one. As of Febuary 10th, its in fact illegal for your distributor to sell you a kids’ book without a certificate of lead testing, no matter when it was printed.
[...] This leaves you, the bookseller, with two legal options: store the books indefinitely, hoping regulations change, OR destroy them.
Basically, after February 10, 2009, selling non-certifed used children's books and toys (that is, if these products are intended for use by children thirteen and younger) will be considered illegal. Guys, idk about you, but buying books from used book stores/libraries/thrift stores is the only way I can get a hold on stuff like BSC, and anyway it's much nicer to my bank account. And we all know I don't actually read anything above the age level of 15, so yeah. This isn't going to work for me.
Please, please go to Change.org and vote on the proposal for an amendment to this act and DO SOMETHING, call your congressman, your senator, anyone who can help. Not just because I want to one day own every single BSC book, but also because, you know what? The economy already sucks and we don't want thousands of small businesses to crash for something like this, do we?
Someone just posted about this on
babysittersclub--an act was passed that helps protect children from dangerous imported toys. WHICH IS TOTALLY COOL, right, except for the part where the act might take out a lot of small businesses.Oh yeah and IT WOULD PREVENT ME FROM COLLECTING THE REST OF THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB BOOKS OR BUYING USED YA/KIDLIT BOOKS WHICH IS WAY THE OPPOSITE OF COOL.
From the proposal to amend the act on Change.org: There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.
And from this blog:
The truly bizarre part is that the new regulations apply retroactively. Even if it was printed 50 years ago and the publisher no longer exists, you need to have a certificate proving it’s not filled with lead. Even if it is the only remaining copy of a rare children’s book worth thousands of dollars and only will ever be handled by collectors, you cannot sell it because you can’t prove it is not filled with lead.
Anything manufactured after November 10th 2008 should have come with a certificate certifying it has been tested for lead. If your distributor didn’t provide one, you need to call and get one. As of Febuary 10th, its in fact illegal for your distributor to sell you a kids’ book without a certificate of lead testing, no matter when it was printed.
[...] This leaves you, the bookseller, with two legal options: store the books indefinitely, hoping regulations change, OR destroy them.
Basically, after February 10, 2009, selling non-certifed used children's books and toys (that is, if these products are intended for use by children thirteen and younger) will be considered illegal. Guys, idk about you, but buying books from used book stores/libraries/thrift stores is the only way I can get a hold on stuff like BSC, and anyway it's much nicer to my bank account. And we all know I don't actually read anything above the age level of 15, so yeah. This isn't going to work for me.
Please, please go to Change.org and vote on the proposal for an amendment to this act and DO SOMETHING, call your congressman, your senator, anyone who can help. Not just because I want to one day own every single BSC book, but also because, you know what? The economy already sucks and we don't want thousands of small businesses to crash for something like this, do we?
