NEW TOY LAW HURTS MORE THAN HELPS

Over the last couple of years, toys made overseas – especially from Red China – were found to have lead, which is a threat to young children. Congress passed a new law recently to force businesses to test all 12-and-under children's products for both lead and a chemical that makes plastics bendable. The products listed also includes children's clothing.

But this law has been written too broadly, and threatens the economic health of many stores and domestic toy and clothing makers. And many, if not most of them, are small stores and manufacturers.

Why are they affected by this badly written law? They can't afford to test their clothing for lead and other chemicals. Large manufacturers will be able to bear the costs of this new regulation. But as is sadly typical, small businesses and cooperatives won't and so they go out of business.

Furthermore, thrift shops and consignment stores who sell children's clothing won't be able to do so after February 10th. That is when the law comes into effect. Also under the law, any untested toys or clothings will be considered “hazardous” and must be destroyed. Even if the clothing has no lead at all.

This means many poor and middle-class families, under this law, would be forced to buy their children's clothes at the national chain stores. The same chain stores that imported the toxic toys from Red China and other countries in the first place.

This law would even threaten the ability to legally buy used children's things from yard sales, or even on Amazon and Ebay. Work-at-home mothers making children's clothes for extra money would also be forced to shut down. It would even be illegal to donate used children's clothing to emergency shelters and crisis pregnancy centers.

To call this law anti-Distributist would be an understatement!

This horrid law – called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act – can be modified for the better. But only if Congress acts now before the law takes effect on February 10th. We at the Voice urge you to call your Congressman and Senator, and demand this law be changed NOW!

As a poster on the Traditional Catholic forum Fisheaters summed it up:

“There are so many problems with this: It hurts American business, it goes against the rights of consumers and small business owners, it's oppressive to the poor, it's dangerous for children, it's wasteful and bad for the environment, it's going to put people out of work, it's amazingly heavy-handed, it puts us even more in China's pocket.”

To get more detailed info on this bill, as well as how to demand it be changed for the better, please click HERE. Please do it now!!!