A time to take action

UPDATE: Hooray hooray, our voices have been heard!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lead7-2009jan07,0,6917858.story

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

As you may have seen on my sister becky's blog, there is a new law going into effect on february 10th that I really hope we can get amended or thrown out completely. It is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
When this act goes into effect, the following will take place:

No one, commercial, small business, or private, will be able to sell any item intended for children under the age of 12 without the item having passed third party testing for lead content first. These tests can cost anywhere from $100-$4000 per item. This applies to goodwill, kid-to-kid, etsy, ebay... ANYWHERE that is selling handmade goods or reselling manufactured clothing. This means that you'd have to pay $100 for 3rd party testing on a $3 onesie. I've already gotten several emails from etsy shops I have purchased from saying they will be out of business as of february due to this new law.
Here are some more sites explaining the law and its impact:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

This is probably the best link I've seen for this, it's on obama's website and you can also vote on your approval of the bill:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

Please everyone, write your senators/representatives.
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/ Has a sample letter you can use HERE, and HERE is the link to find your Representative and HERE for your senator. I wrote all three and it took me less then five minutes.
You can also sign these existing petitions:
CPSIA Impacts on Children's Apparel Industry Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]
Save Handmade Toys & Children's Products from the CPSIA Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]


Please spread the word about this!!! Many people still dont know and it will go into effect and ruin so many people's income, not to mention make recycling clothing and toys for children impossible.