RE: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

Dear Senator,

The aforementioned piece of legislation has just come to my attention, and I am appalled at the potential ramifications that enforcing this bill may have, both for the flailing economy in general and for my family in particular. As I understand it, requiring all products (clothing and toys) designed for children 12 and under to be tested for lead and phthalates could have the unintended consequence of wiping out the second-hand industry as we know it.

I understand the desire to protect our children from shoddy goods imported from China, but this legislation was absolutely the wrong way to go about it. With times as tight as they are, it is unimaginable that the US Congress would allow this legislation to be actually enforced. I depend solely on second-hand sources to clothe my children, and with a third child expected this summer, I know I cannot afford to pay full-price for new children's items.

Seriously, children are far more threatened by second-hand cigarette smoke than by the potential side effects from hypothetical lead in the occasional beadwork on their clothing. Let me, as the consumer, make the choice to purchase items for my family, using my own discretion to weigh the risk of whether I feel threatened by the potential lead content of any particular toy or item of clothing.

If you want to require this testing for all children's products going forward, that would be a more fair way of handling the situation. At the very least, this legislation needs to be revised to apply only to new products being manufactured, and should never apply retroactively to all the goods out there already in circulation. We need much more clarification and revision to this law before it takes effect next month.

My main concern, of course, is with the availability of second-hand items for my family and the effect this law will have on the second-hand industry in general; I haven't even touched on the devastating consequences this would have for small business owners, artisans, craftsmen, and the like, who run their small cottage industries in the best of the entrepreneurial spirit, and who cannot afford to have expensive product testing for their handmade hairbows, aprons, and other goods they sell on Etsy, for example.

I am astounded that this legislation somehow passed without general consumer knowledge. I wish we had had time to lobby about it before it was voted upon, but as far as I can see, the information is just now hitting the blogosphere. Trust me, this thing will spread like wildfire. Small cottage industries, frugal families, second-hand stores, and environmentalists concerned about the impact of trashing all the perfectly good items whose only crime was to be manufactured before February 10th, 2009, will all rise in protest. There will be a huge backlash if this thing goes through. I respectfully request that you be our advocate on this issue and make every effort to repeal or substantially amend this devastating piece of legislation before it is enforced.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Rose Focht