Thursday, January 29, 2009

You should be CHECKING YOUR FACTS!

I was so excited to see that there was an article coming in the Philadelphia Inquirer! Since I lived in Philly for awhile and live between Philly and Allentown currently, I sort of consider it my hometown paper. So like I said, I was excited...until I read the article.

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090129_Craftspeople_see_safety_proposal_as_threat.html

There are several errors in it regarding exemptions. First, there is NO natural materials exemption. It might be coming, it is being considered, but it has not passed. Second there is NO exemption for OOAK (one-of-a-kind) items. That statement was made in another article some time ago. It was a misquote from Julie Vallese. Who, by the way, is no longer with the Commission.

Misinformation about the law from large media outlets does not help our cause! Mainstram media is where the public at large gets most of their information on a variety of topics. I have never been so alerted to the blantantly false information being passed around. It is SO important to fact check, especially on a topic as complicated as this one! Especially since this topic has been largely ignored by the media to date, save a few articles and some local tv spots. Be discerning when reading these articles. Many have inaccurate information.

Haven't you been noticing all the toys are on sale at your favorite big box retailers? Didn't you wonder why? After all, it's past the holiday sale season, it's not really time to "change over" to a new season of toys, toys don't really have a "season" like clothes do. They're on sale because they have to be pulled from the shelves as of February 10th if they haven't been tested. Some of these retailers have MASSIVE inventory to unload before that date.

5 comments:

LiPeony said...

great points. Maybe write back to the paper saying of the mistakes they did and yeah... I tell people all the time and they're like "REALLY?"

rozzissweetpeas said...

Thanks for your efforts on the behalf of other Etsy crafters. We make quality gifts and things for kids under 12 and it shows. We only get one chance to sell and if it ain't good, we don't sell no more!!! keep up the good work...rozzi

Lisa M. said...

Thanks for the great info I actually figured the toys on sale were due to this law but I called aside a store manager a week ago and said well how will you be affected by this are you pulling all stock because I see you placing our "summer" toys and clothing for kids and I am assuming it has not undergone testing because I could not see anything on the labels - they were pretty much clueless and said the sales were still from after holiday inventory - that more inventory was left in the stores than years past due to less spending and it was taking longer to get rid of so to speak.

I would love to see what a big company says about all of this - half the people I know with kids still are unaware I dont see any big stores or companies making announcements etc.

Thanks for all the updates I plan to read on,

Lisa

Jaime said...

Thank you for your continued efforts on all of this! I know I appreciate it, as well as many other Etsians and beyond.

It is amazing how many people still do not know about this law, and some friends that do, have the misinformation about the exemptions as well. And, I have noticed a lot of not so "seasonal" sales lately....hmmm. Like one I got in the mail was for 50% off plus...now, that sure seems like a lot off for this time of year! At least to me it does. :)

Thanks again and keep up all the great blogging!

Anonymous said...

You're so right about those exemptions not being final. We need to send letters to the CPSC. Moms Rising has made this really easy.

Moms Rising has created a link so we can send letters directly to the CPSC by TODAY JAN 30, which is the deadline for supporting "component testing" -- allowing crafters to buy and use safe materials instead of testing. Please follow the link below to just click and send them a letter. It's so easy.

Go to www.momsrising.org and you'll see the action link on the front page.