A constant worry these days is what’s going to happen to my suppliers–and Green Baby Gift Box, too–when the new CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) takes effect on February 10, 2009.

This well-intentioned piece of legislation was drafted to help ensure toy safety after the recalls of 2007. As a parent, I applaud tougher testing requirements for lead and phthalates in products for children under 12. But–the kindest thing I can say is that no one thought through the implications of these new testing rules for small businesses, especially those crafting items by hand. After all, if it costs you hundreds of dollars to test an item that you sell for $35, it’s hardly possible to stay in business. And it makes absolutely no sense to require lead testing for organic cotton t-shirts with no decorations–or for other items made only of natural materials which have never tested positive for lead in any way.

The rules assume that the toys or clothes are crafted in large batches, allowing you to test a representative sample. This is feasible for a company producing a run of 100,000 plastic teethers—but beyond ridiculous if you are knitting wool baby booties one at a time and are required to test each pair. And buying tested materials is not yet an option, because apparently working at a sewing machine or knitting up yarn could potentially introduce lead?!

Rather than penning yet another rant on this issue, I’ll just give you some links for further reading: Fashion Incubator or the Save Handmade page at Cool Mom Picks are good places to start.

This was one of issues that change.org recently presented to our new president, so hopefully these rules will be revised so that baby items that are handmade or made of natural materials will still be able to compete with large toy or clothing companies. To permit the current rules to stand would be a true disservice to children everywhere.

Happy New Year!

Our first print ad ever just appeared in Mothering magazine! You can see the online version in the Mothering shopping guide.

Right now there are these extra question marks (?!) in the ad’s text, which means that someone over there is a less than stellar proofreader. Now I have to go and email the ad production staff… but it’s still fun to see it out in the world.

I have some new boxes in the works—a little scaled down to go with our current collective mood–and should have them up in the next week.