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Children's Products
Manufacturers of children's products ' toys, clothing, furniture and virtually everything else a child might use ' breathed a collective sigh of relief several months ago when the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) stayed for one year significant testing and certification aspects of implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) shortly before it was to take effect.
Often regarded as a response to scandals about tainted edibles and toys originating in Asia, the CPSIA would have imposed costly burdens on manufacturers of children's products to test and to certify that their products met new total lead limits (300 parts per million [ppm], dropped from 600 ppm, as of Aug. 14, 2009), phthalate limits for certain products (1000 ppm), and mandatory toy standards. This temporary stay, however, does not absolve manufacturers and importers from the responsibility of ensuring that their products do not violate these limits. Any product in excess of these limits is banned from sale, and continuing to sell products in excess of these limits can result in substantial penalties under the CPSIA. Also, unbeknownst perhaps to many manufacturers, some old (Cal. Health & Safety Code, sec 25349.5'25249.17 [commonly known as "Proposition 65"]) and some new (Assembly Bill 1108, Cal. Health & Safety Code, sec 108935'108939 ["AB 1108"]) California legislation already imposes significant regulation on the content of lead, phthalates and hundreds of other putative toxins in many of these same children's products if they are manufactured and/or distributed in California.
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