Thread: The New Book Banning

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon0212wo.html

Walter Olson
The New Book Banning
Children’s books burn, courtesy of the federal government.
12 February 2009
It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testing—at prohibitive expense. Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.

The problem is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), passed by Congress last summer after the panic over lead paint on toys from China. Among its other provisions, CPSIA imposed tough new limits on lead in any products intended for use by children aged 12 or under, and made those limits retroactive: that is, goods manufactured before the law passed cannot be sold on the used market (even in garage sales or on eBay) if they don’t conform. The law has hit thrift stores particularly hard, since many children’s products have long included lead-containing (if harmless) components: zippers, snaps, and clasps on garments and backpacks; skateboards, bicycles, and countless other products containing metal alloy; rhinestones and beads in decorations; and so forth. Combine this measure with a new ban (also retroactive) on playthings and child-care articles that contain plastic-softening chemicals known as phthalates, and suddenly tens of millions of commonly encountered children’s items have become unlawful to resell, presumably destined for landfills when their owners discard them. Penalties under the law are strict and can include $100,000 fines and prison time, regardless of whether any child is harmed.

Not until 1985 did it become unlawful to use lead pigments in the inks, dyes, and paints used in children’s books. Before then—and perhaps particularly in the great age of children’s-book illustration that lasted through the early twentieth century—the use of such pigments was not uncommon, and testing can still detect lead residues in books today. This doesn’t mean that the books pose any hazard to children. While lead poisoning from other sources, such as paint in old houses, remains a serious public health problem in some communities, no one seems to have been able to produce a single instance in which an American child has been made ill by the lead in old book illustrations—not surprisingly, since unlike poorly maintained wall paint, book pigments do not tend to flake off in large lead-laden chips for toddlers to put into their mouths.

At any rate, CPSIA’s major provisions went into effect on February 10. The day before, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published guidelines telling thrift stores, as well as other resellers and distributors of used goods, what they could safely keep selling and what they should consider rejecting or subjecting to (expensive) lead testing. Confirming earlier reports, the document advised that only “ordinaryâ€

Just a thought for some of the younger folks out there, perhaps buy yourself a old copy of the dictionary and place it in your library. As you get older you might want to go back and see how Noah Webster revises the definitions of words as the world grows, evolves, and betters itself.

Thank You Big Brother for looking out for the current generation now coming up, without you Big Brother many if not all would not reach the age of adulthood.

Still wondering and left with a sense of amazement at how my generation made it this far, what a miracle it has been!

Thanks Mom and Dad, you both were able to raise us to adulthood and we survived without the help of Big Brother. How did you accomplish such a monumental feat? Amazing!

Originally Posted by Judy

WHAT?? Nothing like taking something to the extreme ....

What?!!

These days I worry about everything, as everything could be contaminated. At a consignment shop, I saw a huge basket of stuffed toys. Well chewed and well washed, but no labels left saying what the contents were. They were cheap, but do I want my grandkids playing with them--nah. The sales people gave me an attitude like I was insulting them asking questions, and they did not have any answers. Their main purpose was to sell me a bunch of used stuffed toys, with no worry if there were fleas in there. Enough to make you sick.

While I was on a thought thread about the threats to kids chemically, there is a a worse threat to kids educationally if they are not allowed to explore the world through literature and, hopefully with their parents' help, make their judgements. The only way these folks can get their way is declaring poison and harm to children for reading re-used books, which is probably cutting into the sales of big children book publishers.
Is this the first shot in the war against freedom of speech?

I certainly hope not. I think it's just a perfect example of where the US government failed completely to protect our children from lead-containing imported toys from China, got caught with their pants down, and now the Consumer Products Safety Commission has gone bonkers issuing orders without reason or sense because obviously they lack both.

I think it's really sad the thrift stores were throwing the books away, they should have saved them and held them for another day since I think this ruling will be over-turned.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

You old farts are stuck in the past, sticking too your guns and religion, biases, common sense, and unwillingness to try new things. A bunch of stick in the muds.

Expand and open your minds too new possibilities, new opportunities, change. Be a part of something new and fresh.

Inhale deeply,.......smell that,.....fresh, invigorating,.....CHANGE! Did you get a big whiff?

Darn,.... it is tough getting old!

Just a thought............

Perhaps townships and cities could gather up these books and declare a festival and have a good old fashioned book burning in the city parks. A gala like event complete with hot dog stands and marshmallow vendors!

Ofcourse if it were to turn into an annual event, (everyone loves a festival) they would have to continue to return to the book shelves and gather more fodder.

How many years could a festival like that last?