Thread: Millons of homecrafters face bankruptcy after Jan 20 from ne

This is just another example of more government control.
It's bad enough that people are losing there jobs, homes, etc., now they won't even be able to sell things to try and put food on the table and stay afloat. Like it is really going do anything about protecting the consumer from chinese poison...yeah right! Everyone needs to go to the web site and object to this!


http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264507

Millons of homecrafters face bankruptcy after Jan 20 from new law
Published Jan 4, 2009, by â–* Adriana Stuijt

Millons of homecrafters face bankruptcy after Jan 20 from new law

Save Handmade Campaign
Millions of homecrafters are up in arms about the new US law effective from Feb 20 2009 which forces them to test their products for children on lead-content. See http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264507
Vote it up!

The new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act – passed hastily to bar poisonous foreign products – also will require millions of American homecrafters to have each of their products tested at huge cost, ranging from $500 to $4000 per product. And there is considerable confusion about whether this also applies to their previous new stock manufactured before this law had even been thought up, because of the wording of this law.. See law here

For the latest update on this story posted on 9 January 2009, see:

Formal complaints against this act must be lodged before January 20 2009 Comments must be labelled: Section 102 Mandatory Third-Party Testing of Component Parts'. Lodge complaints to email Sec102ComponentPartsTesting@cpsc.gov

Also see our first story on Dec 15 here

Without the CPSI certificate of compliance, millions of homecrafters selling their products on EBay, at fairs, in home-shops and at charity shops face conviction under this Act, which goes into effect on February 10 this year. Convinction carries tens of thousands of dollars in fines and potentially even jail time.

No more selling old things on eBay or Craigslist...
And all the products sold on eBay or Craigslist will also require such certificates of compliance or they will be breaking the law. Also affected: millions of charities, which will no longer be able to accept donations without a certificate of compliance. And this certificate can only be obtained through expensive testing by an SCPC-accredited laboratory." Without such certificates, billions of dollars worth of uncertified children’s products will have to be destroyed because they can’t be legally sold without an CPSI-certificate of compliance, and this will cause major environmental problems," said Massachusetts campaigner Kiki Fluhr.

The handmade toys alliance is also up in arms.
They warn: 'The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children's goods that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children's products will no longer be legal in the US.
"And if this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered...'See

The Act was drawn up after last year's massive recalls of dozens of dangerous, lead-tainted Chinese toys and children's products containing lethal phthalates.

This law however also includes all the products made in the USA, including homecrafters’ hand-knitted, quilted and hand-sewn clothes, wooden toys and the myriad of other products for children which traditionally have been sold by arts-and-crafts shops countrywide for decades. These are usually produced by cash-strapped people at home. Read page 7 of the act - with reference to the required testing of children's products here

Little time to object:
Homecrafters say there has been very little opportunity to campaign to get this aspect of the law changed before the deadline. The presidential elections and the holiday season have greatly hampered these efforts. The law was passed in August without much fanfare nor much publicity – -- and it was passed very hastily, with very little input from the country’s millions of homecrafters, they complain.

The homecrafters’ campaign to have the law changed before the objection deadline of January 20 this year was kicked off by one Massachusetts homecrafter, Kiki Fluhr, a young mom who runs the All the Numbers Handmade shop from her home. She refers to the law as the National Bankruptcy Act and predicts that tons of beautiful homecrafted stock will have to be thrown away.

She agrees wholeheartedly that the children must be protected from harmful chemicals. "However this law, as it is currently written, will affect millions of makers of handmade toys and apparel for children - the very people who many of us now turn to for safe toys, clothing and decor for our children. At present, there are no exemptions for small businesses and “microâ€

Unbelievable, our government allows China to send us all kinds of tainted food and yet blocks people in our country from making an honest wage with handcraft goods and/or selling on ebaby or craigslist.

Does anyone get the idea that our government wants us to fail so that they can put us into bondage?

Dumb government, if the American people can't pay taxes to accomodate their salaries along with the corportate bail out's and other fradulent throw away's, where will our government get their tax money.........the illegals?

My wife wrote to congress about this law.

While well intentioned, it shows the incompentency of our congress to craft reasonable laws. Such a shame that small businesses will be shut down because of this.

This benefits large business, who produce crap, cheap products, because they will get a larger market share now because quality, low volume, domestic producers will be forced out of business.

The cost of testing is high and low volume producers cannot afford it.


Why can't we just have a warning label for untested products?

If I saw produced in the USA and I checked out the manufacturer I would still buy that product for my child.

Damn you Congress for your inept laws and rash actions. You make things worse by not camly and soundly thinking through problems.

So they are squeezing out even more Americans that produce items so we have to go to walmart to get the china connection for said items?

What a bunch of idiots! Or are they?

While I understand that this forum is about illegal immigration everything that is happening is connected. I will say this to everyone here! Start thinking outside of the box and do your research! Use the brain that God gave you! You will be surprised how easy it becomes to see through the crap! It may be to late, but at least if you have kids educate yourself of what is coming so you can prepare to protect your family! Those that are not seriously delving into the economic issue are in SERIOUS trouble! You ain't seen NOTHING YET!