Comments on: Book burning on Feb. 10th 2009 due to CPSIA

By: Stan Zielinski

Stan Zielinski — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:19:24 +0000

In response to CPSIA of 2008, we attempted to burn our 5,000 book collection, story here:

By: M.L. Forrester

M.L. Forrester — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:50:50 +0000

As yet, we haven’t seen anyone specify (or even discuss) exactly how a publisher/printer will “issue a certification” that their products comply with the CPSIA requirements.

Hopefully, that won’t become a paperwork nightmare in and of itself for us retailers of books. A separate “certificate document”, issued for each “unit” of books – which would have to be filed and maintained ad infinitum – would eventually result in a monstrously complex and hopelessly burdensome certificate-record/filing/retrieval requirement.

A much more sensible way to issue such a certification would be for the publisher to simply print the certification on the inside and as part of the book itself.

In case we missed it, has anyone else talked about that?

By: khaled @ Quadrant vans

khaled @ Quadrant vans — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:46:40 +0000

I’m all for protecting kids against the dangers of lead, but it just seems stupid if all the products going in are already tested where is the lead going to come from. Maybe they have hit on a new cheaper method of manufacturing lead, a bi product of children’s book manufacturing.

I’ve not heard of this law comping into the UK so maybe Amazon will transfer its stock to sell in Europe before the deadline comes in.

By: reading interventions

reading interventions — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:55:01 +0000

CPSIA is really stupid. My wife loves to shop online. It’s tough on me because she spends so much. But that besides the point. Lots of her online stores that she loves to shop at are now going out of business because of the CPSIA. I think consumers should have the choice on what to buy. Maybe everything we buy should have a disclaimer stating if it has been tested or not.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:00:46 +0000

Thanks for the information this surely is a problem . Books with high lead content can be really a health hazard is really unbelievable.I hope our government is also taking measures to protect us from these health hazards.

By: Adriana Stuijt

Adriana Stuijt — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:23:30 +0000

I have just posted an updated report about the CPSIA on the following news website, including a call for a class-action law suit, with links where one can join up.
Please pass it on to all and sundry!

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/265266

By: Dr. Post

Dr. Post — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:57:44 +0000

Thanks for the very informative post! I agree that lead is dangerous and that it does cause health-related problems. I never would have guessed, however, that someone would ever consider books to contain any lead. Our children do need to be protected, however, let’s keep things real and not go overboard. Again, thanks for the info!

By: Linda Salisbury

Linda Salisbury — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Waaaaa. I’m the author of seven books for the 8-12 set, and the first we heard about this was Wednesday when the e-mail came out from Amazon.com.

I have not been able to find out what we need to do or the cost of doing it, especially to meet the absurd deadlines. Even the change from rabbit ears to digital TV had a year’s notice and now a delay.

How many children’s bookstores will this put out of business, plus publishers? I have e-mailed everyone I can think of in government and the CPSC with not a single response. Is there some mass action that can be taken to get the attention of those who can delay the law until it’s implications can be studied?

Will children’s books go on the black market and bookstores go underground?

Is there pressure being put on from professional associations?

And, what’s to keep an unsupervised toddler to chew his way through the family, untested-for-lead Bible or dictionary?

I’ll bet the nation’s enemies will enjoy this one as we American falls back into the Dark Ages.

Linda Salisbury

By: Nora

Nora — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:49:23 +0000

RE: Jen

Yes, the new ruling that came out 1/9/09 means you COULD now donate to a thrift or library sale again. I have been adding info to the original post, but have not editted original text. Otherwise it makes some of the comments confusing because they’re responding to no longer available info.

(hey, Bruce, could we get comment threading? this would make replies WAY easier)

By: Nora

Nora — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:01:06 +0000

Re: Eddie
Yes, still retroactively applied to NEW merchandise in warehouses that has not been tested. New exemption for thrifts only applies to USED items.
As to the clothes, only undyed cotton has been exempted so far. As soon as you add dye, buttons, zippers, velcro, etc, you have to test it again.

Meanwhile the American Library Assoication has weighed in:
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

There’s a broken link in that article to the supporting evidence sent along. Correct link is:
http://www.rrd.com/wwwCPSIA/home.asp