As a knee-jerk reaction to the lax regulation of Chinese toy imports, the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act will move the burden of testing imported items from the government, who dropped the ball, to the small business owners who can be fined or jailed for breaking this new law.   Even though the CPSC issued guidance that states thrift / resale shops are not REQUIRED to test, owners can still be jailed if they unknowingly sell an item that contains more than the legal limit of lead.  The only protection is testing, no matter what the guidance says.

As the mom of a two-year-old who grows out of clothes almost faster than I can buy them, this regulation scares me.  Especially since our income has been almost cut by half.  I visit a local Children’s Orchard often; I thought seriously about purchasing it when it went up for sale.  I sure am glad I didn’t.

A better solution is to require original manufacturers / importers to publish, through the CPSC, lists of all items they sold / imported that were found to have more than the legal limit of lead / phthalates or come from a company known to have these problems.  Then, resellers would have a single source to look to for guidance.  That due diligence should protect them — it requires a little more work, but those shops that do it can have some “best practices” cover that will allow them to remain in business without the fear of prosecution and allow customers to continue to buy items at a discount.