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The CPSIA: Taking toy safety OVER THE TOP?

The complex

new regulations a ect not

only toys, but

any product directly marketed

to children under the age of :

books, clothing,

DVD s, furniture,

and anything else touched or used

by children.

have every paint color and every separate metal
part tested each time a new batch of the trains
is made. According to the Handmade Toy
Alliance, this may cost between
and , per toy.
e complex new regulations
a ect not only toys, but any
product directly marketed to
children under the age of
: books, clothing, DVDs,
furniture, and anything else
touched or used by children.
Even items made in Europe,
where strong safety laws have
been enforced for many years,
must be retested before they
can be sold in the US.

e Consumer Product

Safety Commission granted a one-year stay of enforcement for testing and certi cation of lead content, phthalates, and the mandatory toy standards.

For more information, contact the Handmade Toy Alliance at www.handmadetoy alliance.com, or CPSIA-Central at http:// cpsia-central.ning.com.

Safe and nontoxic toys: who can argue with that? Writing legislation that ensures that our children won’t be harmed seems a no-brainer, but the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which was created to provide that strong safety net, comes with a hitch: It threatens to put out of business thousands of small manufacturers and retailers of toys, and cra spersons, libraries, and thri stores that can’t a ord to comply with its regulations.

Along with other safety requirements, the law sets maximum levels for lead and certain phthalates, and also makes mandatory toy-safety standards regarding cords, straps, toy shapes and sizes, certain additional

chemicals, and small parts (for children younger than three years). Anyone who makes or imports products for children must have them tested by an independent third-party laboratory.

e problem for small manufacturers and cra spersons is that a representative sample of every batch of a toy needs to be tested. is means that, for example, the maker of a painted wooden train with metal trim may need to

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—Wendy Ponte

Growing numbers of hospitals refuse VBACs

The rate of cesarean birth continues US hospitals and found that an additional surveyed hospitals: www.ican-online.org/ to skyrocket. Preliminary data from the maintain “de facto bans” on VBACs. A vbac-ban-info .

Centers for Disease Control for hospital with a “de facto ban” is de ned by The Northwest Women’s Law Center in indicate a record . percent (compared ICAN as one at which callers “were unable Seattle is considering pro bono litigation to . percent in ). Meanwhile, the to identify any doctors practicing at the on behalf of women unable to have a VBAC number of hospitals refusing to perform hospital who would provide VBAC sup- because of hospital VBAC bans in the states vaginal births after cesareans (VBAC) is port.” A de facto ban can be as e ective of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and also rising, and has nearly tripled since as a formal ban in preventing a woman Washington. Interested women can contact . According to a new survey released from having a VBAC. ICAN estimates that Sara Ainsworth, Esq., at sains@nwwlc.org. by the International Cesarean Awareness less than percent of the US hospitals For more information, see “Access Network (ICAN), as of January , surveyed are “VBAC supportive.” to VBAC Shrinking: ICAN’s Survey hospitals refuse to do VBACs, up from ICAN now maintains on its website of Hospitals and VBAC Bans,” www.ican- the reported in the November a VBAC Policy Database, which contains online.org/ . survey. ICAN volunteers contacted , information about VBAC policies for

—Jake Aryeh Marcus