No thrifting for Peanut?

I may forever be prevented from shopping at my favorite places - Goodwill and Value Village - for little Peanut's necessaries. Well-meaning do-gooders who pushed legislation to keep lead and other toxics out of kid's toys have unintentionally (I hope) made life much more difficult for secondhand stores and all-natural toy and clothing makers.

Here is a quote from a Rick Woldenburg article published on the Free-Range Parenting blog:

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became law on August 14, 2008 and it dramatically changes the way we regulate children’s product safety. After several toys from China were recalled in 2007/8 for high levels of lead, Congress wanted to do something – anything — so it did. And went way overboard.

Until then, the Consumer Product Safety Commission focused only on products that posed an actual threat to your child’s safety – things like faulty car seats, or toys with small parts that could break off and cause choking. Under the new law, Congress imposes arbitrary standards that require the manufacturers of pens, shoes, t-shirts, ATVs, bikes, books, backpacks and toys to “prove” the safety of their products, and label them a new way...

The law also makes it difficult and risky for Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other charities to sell or give away used children’s products, because merely by selling something with plastic or old ink, they might be breaking the law. Thrift stores are reacting to the new regulations by closing their children’s departments. Some have actually THROWN OUT any children’s books printed before 1985. That’s when printing ink still included lead – which might be a problem if children sat down and ate books, page by page, but is no problem at all if they just read them.

- - - -

I'm not afraid of the big bad unproven goods wolf, but I hope that all the awesome secondhand and consignment stores I've been looking forward to shopping in are still doing their thing when I want 'em.