The lame-duck CPSC voted today to postpone enforcing the testing and certification requirements of the CPSIA for another year. Key portions of the Act were scheduled to go into effect in February. CPSC’s inability to put in place compliance information and exclusions to the testing requirements for safe components created confusion. Rather than act more quickly or institute a short delay, CPSC gave companies (and themselves) an extra year.
Of course this means another year of parents having to wonder if the toys and nursery products they buy for their children are safe — taking us through another holiday shopping season with no way to know which products have lead or other toxins and which don’t. It also delays putting in place stronger toy standards for other hazards. While CPSC says the ban on lead and phthalates will still become effective on February 10, 2009 just without the testing and certification, it doesn’t do parents much good. Take a look at our last post for instance — lead paint on toys has been banned for 30 years and yet in two months, 13 products had to be recalled for that hazard.
Please, President Obama, put real leadership in charge of our children’s safety quickly — we can’t afford to wait any longer.
