“Consumer Product Safety” sounds like a good thing – until government enters the picture and things get a little more complicated. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was probably well intentioned, but it has turned into an economic train wreck for thousands of small businesses, costing billions of dollars and putting a lot of people out of work.

On February 10th, CPSIA went into effect.  Now, you should realize that anytime government uses the term "improvement" trouble is probably the next thing coming. The act provides for fines starting at $100,000 per violation and possible jail time for anyone selling items containing lead for use by children age 12 or under. No one denies that lead ingestion can have severe health implications, but this has gone too far. A lot of people believe that Congress overreacted with this legislation and made matters even worse when they let state attorneys general sue, or even hire personal injury lawyers to sue, to enforce their own interpretations of the law.

The end result of this law is that many businesses, from used bookstores to thrift shops and even libraries, are being forced to throw out inventory, lay off workers or even close their doors. The Motorcycle Industry Council has estimated $1 billion in economic loss from frozen inventory, payroll losses and lost opportunities for sales and service.

And get this...the Consumer Product Safety Commission has advised that all children’s books produced before 1985 be taken off the market. How many children have become ill by lead in old book illustrations? In Massachusetts, Goodwill Industries has pulled all children's merchandise from nine of their stores. And the thrift chain Second Time Around has removed kid's clothing from most of its 16 stores.

This law is a perfect example of government gone bad.  Business needs to turn up the heat on Congress to change the law. There is a rally in Washington, D.C. on April 1st (seems fitting) sponsored by the Alliance for Children's Product Safety that is urging Henry Waxman D-CA to open up hearings to possibly amend the CPSIA. CACALA is also holding letter-writing campaign to put pressure on Congressman Waxman. CPSIA needs to be reformed!

The trial lawyers spent millions getting CPSIA passed. The last thing business needs in this economy is bad government and a bunch of personal injury lawyers looking for new business.