Chicken Little has been running amok on Capitol Hill screaming “There’s lead in everything! There’s lead in everything!” and wouldn’t you know, Congress is paying too much attention. In a perfect example of “good gov” gone bad, a law aimed at protecting children from lead exposure may also prohibit them from visiting libraries.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, passed by Congress and signed into law last August, lowers the permissible level of lead in products designed for children under the age of 12. Toys, clothes, furniture, jewelry, and bicycles are all subject to the restrictions.
But so are children's books, many of which contain small amounts of lead from printing ink. And there’s the (possibly toxic) rub.
As the paint industry learned the hard way a number of years ago, exposure to lead can be dangerous, especially for small children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control state that lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.
So under the new law, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) requires all manufacturers, importers, and retailers to certify that children’s products made on or after February 10, 2009, meet the new safety standards regarding lead. The laws become even stricter on August 14, 2009, when more lead testing is required of the products, and the total permissible lead limit drops even lower.
All of this puts libraries in a conundrum. They would, under current interpretation of the rules, either have to remove any tainted books after testing, or bar children under 12 from setting foot inside.
All products containing more lead than the new standards permit will be illegal to sell in the U.S. -- even products made before February 10, 2009. This comes as bad news to any company that makes childrens goods, as they have no choice but to either pay for lead testing, or get rid of their inventory. Retailers will also be on the hot seat to remove questionable products from store shelves.
Though well-intentioned, the law threatens to be an overreaction to the discovery that lead-tainted toys were imported from China in 2007. In a reeling economy, forcing manufacturers and retailers to move so quickly on the lead issue or face stiff penalties has drawn criticism.
Some of the loudest critics are the librarians. The American Library Association has pleaded with the government to exempt books from this law due to the trouble it will stir. They presented research done by the publishing community, which concluded that the level of lead in books was well within the acceptable limits as defined by the new law. General Counsel members rejected the data, saying the research (pdf) did not test the total lead content in the products. The ALA and CPSC are still butting heads over whether printing ink should be evaluated as part of the total lead content.
Meanwhile, thrift stores and other resellers of used children’s products are off the hook from having to certify that their products meet the new safety standards. The CPSC does not list a reason why, but the resellers are also not required to test for lead content before goods are sold. Yet, they are warned against selling products that exceed the lead limit. So children who are turned away from the library may still be able to get their hands on their favorite tainted books via their local consignment shops.
Everyone wants to protect their children, but not at the cost of businesses losing money and libraries losing children.
Why not take a page from the Dept. of Homeland Security and instead of banning the questionable books, slap a color-coded “Lead Threat Level” chart on each one. Then, parents could decide for themselves whether a code orange copy of Chicken Little is worth the risk, or to leave it on the shelf for some braver soul.
Any comment?
Also of Interest: