Toys made in China and CPSIA

With Christmas around the corner we thought that it is important to show our customers what the working conditions in some of China's toy factories look like. A disturbing video and definitely an eye opener for most of us.



The irony of the matter is that with the new CPSIA laws being passed by the US only the big toy manufacturers (mostly responsible for the outcry over unsafe toys that lead to the implementation of the CPSIA Toy Safety regulations) will be able to stay in business with the millions of toys that they can manufacture for cheap in China. From some recent posts I saw, it seems like they can even do their own testing!

The CPSIA rules are such that small toy manufacturing companies making toys by hand or on small scale in Germany and Europe simply can't afford the testing and their insurance rates are sky rocketing if they sell their toys into the US which means that they are pulling their toys out of the North American market alltogether (USA and Canada).

The article Help save hand made Toys by Sunshine Simmons in the Portland Parenting Examiner sums up the whole fiasco much better than what I can.


Below is the article as it appeared in the Portland Parenting Examiner on August 4, 2009

When you’re browsing through your local farmer’s market or wandering the isle of beautiful hand made products at Portland’s Saturday Market, you’ve surely seen beautifully hand crafted children’s toys. Wooden cars, hand made dolls, crocheted stuffed animals, and the beloved sock monkeys may be nearing the end of their days if the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is passed.

The law is spawned by an outcry over toxic toys mass produced and shipped from overseas from places like China. While toxic toys should be done away with, a lot of the United States has turned to their local toy makers whose toys have been tested and trusted by kiddos for years. Safe toys made from safe materials. These artisans and toy makers will be obliterated without tens of thousands of dollars for their products to go through the testing process.

The bill passed in the senate 89 to 3 and at the house 424 to one. Ron Paul, the one who didn’t vote for it knows that our small retailers are already struggling to make it in the mass-production Wal-Mart era, and he sees the flaws in the law packed with heavy fines and jail time.

The first deadline is set as February 10th, 2010. On this day, it will become unlawful for goods to be shipped that have not been tested by stringent third party testing. The next phase will make it illegal to sell or even give away new kids’ goods that have not been tested. Yes, you can’t even give them away.

This doesn’t just mean toys. This means any product intended for children under 12, including, but not limited to: clothing, fabric, textile goods, hats, shoes, diapers, hair products, sports pennants, scout patches, logo shirts, little-league baseball caps, backpacks, furniture, sports gear, sports equipment, bikes, telescopes, paper goods, books, games, flash cards, school supplies, video games, and even specialized assistive devices and therapeutic products for disabled children.

A sample must be taken from every lot of goods after they are produced for testing. Every component of the product will be tested. Take a hand sewn doll, for example. A little old lady just hand sewed fifty dolls to sell and raise money for starving kids in her community. One doll must be pulled and tested. The initial test is $150. Not too bad, right? Wrong. Every component must be tested. She will have to pay that for every button, yarn, material of the doll’s dress, lace trim on the doll’s dress, the ribbon in the doll’s hair, the thread that holds the doll together, and any other component used to make the dolls. It doesn’t matter if the materials were purchased from a certified and trusted organic source, everything must be tested. Suddenly, it’s well over $1000.00 to test the doll, and heaven forbid she ran out of material on doll #23 and had to use a different material for the rest of the dresses spawning a whole new round of testing.

One retailer who makes telescopes and has never had a problem with any products learned that it would cost $24,000.00 for testing his product that sells only $32,000 every year. He will go bankrupt.

The economy can’t handle a boost in prices to accommodate the cost of these tests.

Thrift shops are not going to get off scott-free either. They are liable for every product in their stores and will be subjected to fines if anything they stock doesn’t pass the test. That means every button, zipper, nut, bolt, piece of material, puzzle piece, roller skate wheel, and picture frame will be under scrutiny. A lot of thrift shop owners carry vintage toys and products mainly purchased by antique hunting grown-ups, but that doesn’t matter. If they are carrying an old pair of blue jars that might have been made fifty years ago with a bit of lead in them, if they have a picture of a cartoon character on them, they are going to be fined.

What happens then? Landfills become dump sites for thrift stores and antique shops, shop owners become bankrupt, artisans are out of a living, toy makers are out of a job, the cost of toys soars so high that American’s can’t afford to give them to their children, moms can’t make toys and give them to their children, poor families will no longer be able to buy cheap school clothes at thrift stores, and families will not be able to afford books.

The future? Associate Executive Director of the American Library Association, Emily Sheketoff states, “Either they take all the children’s books off the shelves, or they ban children from the library.”

Native American kiddos with moccasins and buckskin tribal ceremonial clothing? Not exempt. Goodbye Native American cultural tribal ceremonies.

Little old ladies who knit hats for poor families who can’t afford them? Goodbye warm heads. You have to buy new.

Artist who carves cars and trucks from pine trees that he grows himself on his property with no pesticides or herbicides at all? Too bad. Better get a job at McDonalds.

Super talented friend who knits dollies for her baby shower gifts that all her friends can’t wait to get a hold of? No. Shop at Wal-Mart for something with no meaning at all.

Auntie who makes the most amazing baby quilts? Sorry. Can’t afford a ten thousand dollar test for all of those little quilt panels.

Grandma, you can’t knit slippers for our kids anymore. Sorry.

Three German toymakers have already stopped selling in the American market.

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

A group of toymakers, artisans, shop owners, and consumers called Handmade Toy Alliance is raising awareness about the law’s problems. Still, groups in support of the law say that people who oppose it are confused and misinformed, and say that the enforcement of thrift shops is unlikely. Grannies and librarians will be too small to attract attention. Grannies and book sellers don’t want to be illegal, they want to be grannies and booksellers. It only takes one lawyer to push the boundaries and make an example out of one little old lady who knitted baby booties and sent them to their grandkids. Is a jury allowed to look the other way just because grannies were supposed to be overlooked? No. A jury has to follow the letter of the law.

A bothersome phrase is being thrown around as pressure and opposition of the law grows. “Unintended consequences.” With the outcry for safer toys from huge entities like Hasbro, a law was put together that everyone was so intensely ready to push through in a hurry. We didn’t want any more toxic toys on our shelves, and we wanted them gone yesterday. Unfortunately, lawmakers were so hurried to pass this law that they didn’t take the time to really read and understand it. 'Unintended consequences' is a term also often used in war. Civilian casualties are unintended consequences.

In this case, the war is against poisonous toys made by massive manufacturers more worried about the bottom line than the children that they are hurting. This war is against monsters who allow lead-based paint to enter the market so they can save millions to make millions more. Make them faster, make more money.

No one thought that this would hurt the man who spends multiple hours choosing a piece of safe wood, carving the body of a car, then wheels. He wasn’t supposed to loose his livelihood as he carefully worked to make sure that the child who played with his car would be able to love it for life. No one knows his pride as he sees a child’s eyes light up at his Saturday Market booth, and feels the appreciation from a parent who knows they are buying a safe quality toy made right here in America. Who will be there when he has to throw the last car in the fire because he can’t afford to have them tested? Who will hold his heart as he bows his head and hands in his application to Wal-Mart so he can be a greeter and look consumers in the face every day that have left him behind? He is an “unintended consequence”. A casualty of war.

What can you do? You can contact your local lawmakers, send letters, emails, make phone calls, join discussions, and be informed. You can choose to take the world around you and make it a better place instead of allowing controlling horribly written laws to be passed out of fear. You can choose to purchase safe toys for your children that are made right in your local communities by trusted toymakers. You can choose to know what you are putting in front of and on your children rather than shopping the big box store shelves for a cheap lead-filled garbage toy that will rot away in some landfill after it gets played with for ten minutes. You can teach your children about safe toys and toys that can make them sick. It is your duty to scream from the rooftops that this law is not okay, and that we will not stand for further destruction of our economy.

Now, get out there and do something good today.