Comments on: CPSIA chronicles, March 2

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:10:50 +0000

I think steps that might smack of harassment, or would create burdens for, say, the legitimate security operations involved in screening packages addressed to Congress, are unwise. In addition, such a campaign would be most unlikely to produce "photo opportunities" that would embarrass a targeted Representative at his offices at Washington. Such proposals also assume that the targeted Congressman somehow doesn't understand what's going on with CPSIA or doesn't appreciate the depth of anger. No doubt that's true of some members of Congress, but when it comes to the key backers, I think a better bet is that they are quite aware of what is going on, but intend to ride out the storm and ignore the outcry the better to service the pro-CPSIA constituencies that are important to their political base.

By: rxc

rxc — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:47:52 +0000

I really like the idea of sending samples of stuff that is banned under the CPSIA to the Congresspersons who are responsible for this. Maybe if Henry Waxman started to be deluged by the sort of stuff he was responsible for banning, he might re-consider his position.

BTW, what is being done about all the sports equipment that kids use, such as baseballs, footballs, bats, etc? Is this stuff also supposed to be certified? And what about all the school supplies, such as paper and pencils and notebooks? I have heard about the problems with pens, but are all Crayolas also tested?

And finally, what about the Kids Pages that lots of newspapers like the WashPost have – do they have certificates for each batch of paper and ink and the final edition of these pages that is sent out to be read by the children? (I don’t know whether the Times has such a page, but if it does, I would think it would make a dandy test case for a class-action suit.)

By: Leslee

Leslee — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:22:53 +0000

Thank you for these regular roundups on CPSIA. Your blog has become my first stop each day. It’s good to see that the stay on testing did not cause everyone to lose interest in the ongoing problems with this law!