save handmade...

Recently Congress passed the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. This requires anything being marketed to children 12 and under to under go third-party testing and labeling to prove that toys/items never had a single toxic chemical in them and still don't have a single toxic chemical in them. While in theory this is a good concept, it lacks the necessary stipulations to keep it from hurting small business and artisans. This law will basically kill the handmade artisan market for children's items. For example, it will be illegal for me to sell any of my children's jewelry after February 10 because none of it has undergone third party testing and labeling, and I won't be sending it to under go the testing and labeling either because it would cost thousands of dollars for the testing and since I make little off of children's jewelry it is not feasible. So for all of you who like to look at Etsy or the Farmer's Market or even the jewelry and other handmade children's goods at local boutiques, many of them will soon be unavailable. What I ask is that you write to your Congressman and Senator (especially if you live in Rep. Matheson's district since he is on the committee that oversees this law) and ask that this law be amended to not include businesses whose profit is under one million dollars. You can read more about this law and its effects here.