New toy safety rules and you

stacey Garfinkle

On Parenting

WASHINGTON — Congressionally mandated toy safety rules that take effect Feb. 10 have left freecyclers and resellers of children’s products scrambling to understand the law and how it affects them. The result has been word-of-mouth back and forth of truths and rumors about the law.

The rules ban the selling of children’s products if they contain more than 600 parts per million of lead. That level drops Aug. 14 to 300 parts per million of lead. Also, certain children’s products manufactured after Feb. 10 that contain more than 0.1% of phthalates cannot be sold.

“The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards,” the Consumer Product Safety Commission wrote in a recent press release.

“The agency intends to focus its enforcement efforts on products of greatest risk and largest exposure. ... Among these are recalled children’s products, particularly cribs and play yards; children’s products that may contain lead, such as children’s jewelry and painted wooden or metal toys; flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts; toys that lack the required age warnings; and dolls and stuffed toys that have buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard for young children.”

To separate fact from fiction, I spoke with Julie Vallese, the former director of public affairs at the CPSC. It’s the CPSC’s job to interpret, implement and enforce the toy safety rules. Here are excerpts of that interview:

Q. Who does new law affect most?

A. The law in different ways affects just about anyone who is selling consumer products in the United States. The law addresses manufacturers, importers and retailers, which includes resellers, and provides their responsibility for doing business in the U.S.

Q. What is the responsibility of resellers and retailers?

A. Responsibility of resellers such as consignment shops and thrift stores is to meet the lead limits of the new law. Under the new law, those shop owners do not need to test and certify the products because they are not the manufacturer. But the new lead limits do apply.

Q. How do they ensure the lead limits are met?

A. XRF technology. It’s a portable screening device. To use it, you need to be certified. In terms of shop owners meeting the level of confidence, they would have to hire someone who is certified to come in and do that inventory testing for them. The agency sees no reason for those shops to close. We think these shops can and should stay open for business, but they need to pay attention to Congress’ new rules.

Q. How does it apply to people buying and selling through online sites like Craigslist, eBay, listservs, freecycle, etc.?

A. As a reseller, they’ve still got obligations to know they are selling products lawfully. We would recommend those kinds of resellers focus very closely on those products that we know cause harm and make sure they are not reselling recalled products. We’ve been working with eBay for a number of years and are now working with Craigslist. We monitor those sites and do ask for auctions to come down when we find violators of the law.

Q. Cribs have been in the news a lot lately with recalls and issues. What recommendations do you have for parents looking to buy/use hand-me-down cribs?

A. When it comes to cribs, parents should make sure the product is stable, not missing parts and is operating as it’s intended to. Go over it. Make sure parts aren’t loose. Make sure hardware isn’t protruding from the crib that could cause any number of injuries. If you are given a crib or buy a used crib, check it against the CPSC recall site because there have been many cribs recalled over history but very recently as well.

XStacey Garfinkle writes the “On Parenting” blog for washingtonpost.com.