This blog comes from Rachele, the owner and founder of Monkey Baby Clothes, who is a mompreneur on a mission to help save small businesses put at risk with a new law. Please take a few moments to read what YOU can do to help!
Rachele writes…
“Four years ago, as a single mom of 2, my 2 year old son was diagnosed with a seizure disorder. Because he could not be left in childcare while I worked full time, I had to come up with a business that combined my background in marketing and my creative talents in designing and sewing children’s clothes – Monkey Baby Clothes was born.
After 4 years of growing and developing my business, I started 2009 with new hopes and new goals, only to be railroaded by a new law that thousands in the children’s industry are in panic over. “CPSIA” or Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. To summarize this law, all products intended for children under 12yrs. must be lead tested. This new law applies not only to Big Business, but to Ebay’ers, moms working from home selling hair-bows & blankets to supplement their income, to smaller businesses like mine.
The problem with this law, although originated to protect children, is that it’s creating financial devastation (and even bankruptcy) to businesses whose products pose no threat to children and never have. The law is written very poorly. It’s too vague, too broad, and is retroactive-so come 2/10 it is unlawful for retailers to have inventory on their shelves that they can’t provide certificates for, causing them thousands of dollars in lost inventory that the day before was legal to sell (T-shirts, onesies, hairclips, socks, baby slings, BMX bikes etc.). Everything you can think of that you and children enjoy, potentially will no longer be available, unless each product is lead tested by a third party lab approved by CPSC. Not such a big deal you think, each test is an excess of $300+ . And the test must be done for every production run, color variation, and repeated again on the same product when produced again costing businesses thousands of dollars, when that product may only make them a few hundred dollars a year itself.
We’ve begun organizing a “Class Action” lawsuit to prevent the implementation of this law as it is currently written, and we need your help! To learn more about what this law means, and how you can help change it so kids are protected from what may be harmful, but keep products we know pose no threats in the marketplace, visit our website www.reformcpsia.org and make your voice heard!”
Thanks Rachele for helping spreading the word. Click here to sign the petition to help reform this law and help save our hard working mompreneurs!!!