The $4000 handmade rattle

[Skye]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/28/the-4000-handmade-ra.html

MAKE editor and publisher Dale Dougherty has more on the well-intentioned-but-actually-awful Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

Years ago, Jason Gold was looking for a rattle for his new baby. He wanted something safe and made of natural materials. "I was trying to find a rattle that wasn't coated in paint or made of plastic," said Gold. Not finding any, he made a rattle out of wood. Thinking that other parents might be looking for alternatives to mass-produced items of questionable materials, he started Camden Rose, a manufacturer of wooden and fabric toys in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today, the Camden Rattle sells for $15 through a network alternative retail stores and places like Whole Foods.

This year, Jason Gold thought the economy would be his biggest worry this holiday season. However, it turned out that the 2008 holiday season was the busiest ever for Camden Rose. The bigger worry for Gold has been figuring out if the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) will put him and many others like him out of business in 2009.

The CPSIA on the surface seems like a good idea, coming as a response to the recall of toys made in China and sold in the US that had potentially harmful levels of lead, phthalates or other toxins. The law's intentions are good but its side effects are not. Lost in the details were provisions that may deal a serious blow to America's cottage industries and individuals who make things by hand. This comes at a time when the unemployed and underemployed are seeking creative ways to make a living from home.

There are three parts to the CPSIA. The first requires independent testing and certification. "We've gone from no certification to the strictest form of certification in the world," says Gold. "It might cost me $4,000 to test my rattle." It's not just the cost of testing. The tests must be done for each component, and for each item, not for the manufacturing process itself.

 

[Lulanrt]

I would want the ball turned out of elm or some kind of wood with an interlocking grain so there is no chance of splitting an causing a choking hazard. I would also like to know what it is being finished with. I assume he tells everyone this info. But what to do about CPSIA????? Independent testing on hand made toys. There is a place in WV called Tamarack that helps promote independent craftspeople and a big part of there sales are handmade toys. They are already struggling to stay a float now.
Travis

 

[Grizz]

It's not death by taxes anymore... it's death by over regulations.

 

[babyblues]

Man, these people would have gone into cardiac arrest if they saw the toys my brother and I played with. Rocks, sticks, wooden swords, wooden spears, sling shots, bows, arrows, lawn darts, darts, pellet guns...you name it. At what point does our society paralyze itself with its obsession with safety?! I'd say that point is fast approaching. Common sense has been thrown out the window.

 

[Skye]

Who remembers BBgun wars? Oh, the days before paintball....

 

[pipecrafter]

Oh my, yes. Grab your heaviest coat and head out into the woods with a BB gun. It's a wonder my friends and I are still alive! Thank goodness someone wized up and invented Airsoft before my kids caught wind of that.

 

[Woodlvr]

I see the dollar stores now sell the rubber band guns, with the big rubber bands. What can you do, our grandchildren flip them at each other without the aid of the gun.