ACSH staffers have written before about the unfortunate consequences of the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
CPSIA is an extraordinarily burdensome law requiring anyone and any business, large or small, to test and certify that their products, if aimed at the twelve-and-under market, do not contain lead or several kinds of phthalates above a very tiny amount, says Dr. Ross. The costs of such testing are borne by the merchant, and often runs to thousands of dollars per item. We have often railed against the unscientific CPSIA and the burden it has placed on small businesses nationwide without any benefit to public health.
Anne Northup, one of the Consumer Product Safety commissioners, is also concerned about the law s impact. On her blog, she posted a letter from a Kentucky-based toy company that discovered levels of phthalates in one of their products that were above CPSIA s Draconian standards: We are spending the money, delivering a revised toy at a loss and complying with the law because we fear being put out of business with a large fine, not because we are saving some child from a dangerous encounter with this product.