CPSC moves to ease cost burden of lead testing for handmade toy, crafts businesses

Feds look at testing costs for small businesses

WASHINGTON — When Jill Chuckas turned her love of sewing into a baby crafts business, she never imagined she would become a target of a 2008 federal law aimed at getting the lead out of children’s toys.

Chuckas, a mother of three, makes and sells baby bibs and fleece nap mats for toddlers. Since the law, she has spent countless nights worrying about how to pay for costly third-party testing for handmade wares she says are safe and don’t have lead.

A move Wednesday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission could help.

The commission voted to begin writing a rule to allow manufacturers, big and small, to essentially break the required testing process for lead, lead paint and other potential dangers into parts.

Under the proposed rule, a manufacturer could rely on safety testing performed for the suppliers of buttons, zippers, plastics or other parts of toys, clothing and other products for youngsters — to make sure they meet federal safety limits.

Independent testing would still be required, but it wouldn’t necessarily have to be done by the maker of the finished product.

The so-called component parts rule would have a number of benefits, says Chuckas, owner of Crafty Baby in Stamford, Conn.

“It cuts down on cost. It cuts down on paperwork. It cuts down on time,” Chuckas said in an interview. “The reality is that the products were safe to begin with.”

The commission and Congress have been hearing for almost two years now from handmade craft companies, small businesses and others who argue their products are safe and the expensive third-party testing required could shutter their shops.

CPSC could have a final rule ready this fall. If approved, it would take another six months before it takes effect.

“It won’t solve all problems for all manufacturers,” said CPSC commissioner Bob Adler, at a recent meeting. “It is just a major and dramatic step forward in my judgment to helping manufacturers meet a challenging new provision of the law.”

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act was passed after scores of recalls of lead-tainted toys in 2007. Most were from China.

On the Net:

Consumer Product Safety Commission: www.cpsc.gov