New Law May Eviscerate Libraries
Categories: Places To Go, Safety, Education
What if you walked into your local public library and there were no books for kids? Or, worse yet, what if your children simply weren't allowed in the library? I don't know about you, but the public library was an integral part of my childhood. We're lucky enough to live near the library I frequented as a child and it still looks very much the same -- with its mile-high ceilings and shelves of books reaching for the sky. But all that might go away when a new federal law goes into effect next month.Called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the intent is to protect children from lead in games, toys, and clothing. The problem is that the ink used to print books may have trace amounts of lead. That means books need to be tested and, possibly, taken out of circulation. Testing alone could cost between three and six hundred dollars per book. "We just can't afford to do that, and most of the tests would destroy the books. So, we just think this is crazy," said Emily Sheketoff, of the American Libraries Association.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that it "does not want to take books away from kids. We want to encourage reading but also have kids with safe products." The CPSC is trying to develop specific guidelines for libraries, schools and bookstores to find a balance between the need for strict safety and practicality.
If you ask me, books are too important to worry about trace amounts of lead. There are better ways to spend money keeping kids safe -- testing imported products comes to mind.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bridget 1-29-2009 @ 9:21AM
This law doesn't just impact libraries. It will totally shut down the children's handcrafting industry as well as consignment and resale. It's insane! Nothing can be sold, donated, or otherwise placed into the stream of commerce that contains over 600 ppm lead. In August that drops to 300 ppm. Now, the CPSC helpfully issued a press release a few weeks ago stating that resale (consignment sales & stores, Goodwill, Craigslist posters, garage sale hosts, etc) do not have to TEST for lead, but at the same time can be fined $100,000 for selling products over the lead limit.
Can you tell what the lead content is in a product just by looking? I can't. That's what the CPSC tells resale entities to do.
http://www.wbaltv.com/video/18479590/index.html
Oddly, Julie Vallese no longer works for the CPSC. Notice how she manages to totally slam "mommy bloggers" too?
So, what can we do at this point? There is only one thing. Contact:
Henry A. Waxman
California-30th, Democrat
2204 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0530
Phone: (202) 225-3976
He's the head of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He's the ONLY person who can do anything about this ridiculous law, by calling a committee meeting to deal with it BEFORE Feb. 10.
Want to read more about Waxman? Go here:
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-you-need-to-contact-waxman-rather.html
Contact all your own Congresspeople as well and tell them that while you want safer toys for your children, you also want libraries, handcrafting, and resale to survive! Ask them, in this economy, with bailout packages being approved every week, WHY ON EARTH are they trying to put small businesses OUT OF BUSINESS???
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Pavlina 1-29-2009 @ 11:19AM
This proves you can't have it both ways. You cannot freak out about the tiny amounts in lead that are found in just about every man made item, then complain when it directly affects you.
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SKL 1-29-2009 @ 11:58AM
Pavlina, these are my thoughts exactly.
Chris Clauer 1-29-2009 @ 3:58PM
It looks like Julie Vallese is sitting next to a marijuana plant in that video.
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manfer 3-31-2009 @ 9:17AM
Recently I visited the public library and saw many books for children. I took few books for my nephew, but you can find someone book in library you always can download it from internet. I use http://rapid4me.com - rapidshare search engine for finding necessary book.
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