Dear Customers,

On February 10, 2009, a new law called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) goes into effect that threatens to put A Toy Garden, many other specialty toy stores, and thousands of handmade crafters (think of sellers on etsy.com, ebay.com, etc.) in the US & around the world out of business. Here’s my non-legal interpretation of the law: The law's beginnings had honorable intentions - keeping children safe from lead and phthalates - however, the way the law was written would require such extensive testing that most small and many medium-size vendors would have to go out of business, and we would only be able to sell toys from very large manufacturers who did the testing. If I could not sell the extensive selection of handmade toys I currently offer, I would choose to go out of business as I am unwilling to only sell mass manufactured toys. There are already some European companies (like Selecta) who have reviewed the law, seen how impossible it would be to follow, and have chosen to pull out of the US market.

How can this be, you might ask? The law requires each batch of any product that children under 12 might use to be tested for lead and phthalates. Everything, whether it contains plastic or anything that might contain lead, must be tested for phthalate and lead content. Even unfinished wooden toys! For example, many of you love our Herbal Play Bean Bags. Based on internet research and prices quoted to other craftspeople for similar approved independent product testing (as required by CPSIA), I estimate it would cost about $2100 to get a set of bean bags tested (8 colors of batik 100% cotton fabric, 16 different spools of thread, kidney beans, organic dried lavender, chamomile, and peppermint: 28 tests x $75 per test). Since I buy new fabric several times per year, and the fabric patterns are usually a little different each time, I’d need to retest the whole bean bag set several times per year. I would also have to “batch label” each batch of bean bags I made and provide official certification that they meet all the regulations. These testing costs would become the largest cost of making bean bags (more than any of the materials or labor) and make their cost so ridiculously high that we'd probably never sell any. OK, you may be willing to make your own bean bags, but the same holds true for handmade dolls, gnomes, fairies, felted items, dress-up garments, wooden vehicles, puzzles, baskets (there are no two alike so we’d have to test each one!), etc. All of our prices would go through the roof, because we'd have to pass all these costs along to our customers in order to stay in business.

The good news is that the CPSC is considering some exemptions for natural materials such as cotton, wool, silk, and wood, however none of the exemptions can be finalized until the Act becomes law on February 10th. We joined the recently formed Handmade Toy Alliance – a group of hundreds of small U.S. toy manufacturers/retailers to help lobby and spread the word through the government, media, and to the public about the potentially devestating effects of the law on conscientious small businesses. The economy has caused many of us to suffer but this law threatens to force us to break the law or simply close our businesses.

What you can do:

1. Go to handmadetoyalliance.org to read up on the law and many current news articles and press coverage about the law as well as signing the HTA petition. If you are a toy maker/seller, please join the HTA.
2. Follow the links and print out the forms at the Handmade Toy Alliance’s website to write, email and call your congresspeople. This is important and is having an affect. All but 1 member of Congress voted for this law but most hadn't read and didn't understand it when they voted for it!

Thank you for your business past & present. We hope to be here to serve you in the future. Sincerely, Sonya
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