New U.S. Law About Children's Toys

[staceyrebecca]

Thanks for the info. So if I created a very small company, came out with my own version of a Munny in limited edition runs, labeled it as for ages 13 and older and not suitable for under that age then I should be okay unless some busybody decides to take action. Then who knows? I think the law is intentionally vague to target larger companies while turning a blind eye to smaller ones. I hope that's the case.

I personally don't think it's intentionally vague. It was passed in August, very quickly with a vast majority in both the house & the senate (in both combined, there were only 3 who opposed). My feeling is that it was done quickly without much thought as to what would happen to the smaller industries & the politics of "how could you oppose saving children?" And it was signed into law *before* the huge collapse on Wall Street.

They're even revising the law currently, asking for suggestions from the public regarding certain issues they're uninformed about. However they juuust can't possibly have experts on the society of every culture advising them with only 100 employees (A fact that I haven't confirmed, but rather have only "heard"). If vaugeness was their goal, I don't think there would be revisions.

It's difficult to not play the fear card in the media or fall victim of it, too. Kindof hard to find opinion-neutral websites/blogs/posts that give just facts about it.

I think if you created something like Munny, which isn't necessarily intended for children, you'd be okay.

I do wonder how puppets will be perceived by the general public. Are they for children, or teens & adults? I'm sure it boils down to how they're constructed if you're a puppeteer & know your stuff, but I doubt they have any puppeteers working for them. (****, I had someone from an ad agency tell me they didn't want to use my puppets for an Intel spot because they were afraid they looked too Henson-like & they'd be sued for copyright infringement...)

I could talk about this thing for days, so I apologize for these extra-wordy posts. I'm going back to being full-time with my etsy shop in February (small plug), so this has been on my mind a bit. I'm not even sure who else out there (here) makes puppets that could be given kids, so this may just be one large Stacey Gordon therapy session...

also, really? **** gets bleeped?

 

[frogboy4]

Thanks for your replies. This has been on my mind too due to a pet project that's been on the back burner for a while.

I suppose a warning would be issued for any perceived wrongdoing and if it ceased there would be no further action. However, this legislation was very sloppy. It will likely take time to expose that. It truly is the Hasbros and Mattels enforcing unrealistic price goals that cause China to cut these corners and all to save a few cents per unit.

By the way, totally love your puppet work - especially the monsters.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

The resale of toys in places like goodwill, consignment shops, ebay, etc. are also exempt.

As currently written (Congress has not yet passed any revisions to my knowledge) I thought that the law was retroactive and had effect on old toys. Usually that's the way these sorts of product safety laws are written.

I've read a lot on forums about people looking for loopholes. The problem with product safety laws is that generally a business (small or large) is supposed to err on the side of following the rules, not avoiding them. I really hope they clean this mess up.

 

[staceyrebecca]

As currently written (Congress has not yet passed any revisions to my knowledge) I thought that the law was retroactive and had effect on old toys. Usually that's the way these sorts of product safety laws are written.

Used toys will be exempt, however unused toys will not be. I'm not sure if you can consider the 1980 Chewbacca in its package on your shelf used. QUICK! Take it out & play with it before you sell it! (Or at least play with the box)

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html there's the website & here's the quote from the page.

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]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.[/FONT]

 

[staceyrebecca]

http://www.etsy.com/virtual_lab.php?room_id=auditorium

Live chat going on now.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Is the messed-up logic behind that that it's OK to poison kids...as long as someone else got poisoned first?

 

[staceyrebecca]

I think the messed up logic is the "oh holy poop, we did WHAT to goodwill, consignment stores, ebay, etc? huh. ok screw the kids! industry wins!"

or something along those lines.