CPSIA idiocy
February 16th, 2009 | Tags: cpsia, general | 7 Comments
Every time I learn something new about the CPSIA, I get more enraged. Most recently, Walter Olson writes in City Journal about its effects on classic books for children. Seeing the aftermath of swift, decisive legislation surely makes one nostalgic for the congressional gridlock of yore.
TAXI WIT UPDATE: Consider another domain in which the CPSIA will leave a terrible mark: print-on-demand and custom merchandise. If certification is at the SKU level and not the component level, what does that mean for products like this sweatshirt? As far as I know, there is one such article in existence, and this product may not be of interest to consumers whose father hasn’t made up a series of bedtime stories about “Otis the young garbage truck” and his many adventures. Should it have cost $617, to include lab fees?
Certainly, our culture is far more impoverished by the Year Zero book-burnings that this woefully stupid law has inspired than it is by any incidental inhibition of novelty t-shirt production. However, like the crackdown on handmade children’s products and the mass landfilling of secondhand toys and clothes, these are all symptoms of the same disease. The homogenizing impact of the CPSIA — whether by proscribing unique toys or clothes made by craftsmen and distributed over the Internet, all but the most contemporary and bland mass-market books, or customer-designed products made possible by automated lean manufacturing — seems to effectively neuter the essential American cocktail of technology, thrift, and enterprise.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Olson has been posting regular, provocative updates about the CPSIA on Twitter and on his weblog. Also, Madison residents may wish to contact Rep. Baldwin, who is apparently on the House subcommittee currently considering reforming the CPSIA.
February 16th, 2009 at 08:26:39 PM (#)
Unbelievable.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:31:21 AM (#)
[...] Click at Protein Wisdom are among those put in mind of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Will Benton: “Every time I learn something new about the CPSIA, I get more enraged.” Illinois [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 01:29:31 AM (#)
B-b-b-b-but think of the children!!! How ever did all of us survive through childhood, with all the jungle gyms, “unsafe” books, lawn darts and all?
February 17th, 2009 at 09:38:39 AM (#)
The more I read about the CPSIA, the more I become convinced that we need a constitutional amendment that forbids Congress from voting on any bill, ever, and that forbids the President from signing any bill into law, ever.
February 17th, 2009 at 05:37:54 PM (#)
We just need them to actually read things and then stop and think for a while before they sign them.
I too am concerned about print on demand. I’m an illustrator and I use either print-on-demand or similar short run technology to print books and shirts (as would many smaller publishers who hire authors and illustrators). So far it’s not really been addressed.
February 23rd, 2009 at 01:28:20 PM (#)
[...] year in the absence of any willingness by Congress to clarify or change the law. Some discussions: Will Benton; Adam Dewitz, Print CEO (via Book Journeys), WSJ forums (dilemma faced by Tennessee printer). More [...]
February 25th, 2009 at 01:40:17 AM (#)
Dr. Seuss Meets the CPSIA –
“In the town of Bedubble, far out on the Moor,
there lived a small tot, who was not more than four.
Little Annabelle Ruth (her close friends would recall)
had swallowed the string from a dilly-dunk ball.”
Read the rest of the story here!
http://www.easyfunschool.com/the_CPSIA_meets_Dr_Seuss.html