The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed by Congress last August and due to be enforced beginning February 10th, is designed to protect children from exposure to products containing unsafe levels of lead or phthalate. All well and good. There has been some controversy regarding the application of the law to resale shops and such, but there now seems to be the potential for this to impact libraries in a big way.
Apparently the General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has ruled that the law applies to public, school, academic, and museum libraries. This means that all products designed for children under 12 years of age (think children’s books) would need to be tested or removed, or children under the age of 12 would need to be barred from visiting the library.
The American Library Association’s district office in Washington D.C. has issued a District Dispatch summarizing the issue, and they have also released a letter sent to congressional members last month requesting an exemption from the law, including a link to research done by the publishing community on the potential for exposure to these chemicals through books (which was rejected by the CPSC General Counsel).
thanks to Sia Stewart for her Facebook posting of the dispatch!
—- 10 minutes later —-
The CPSC posted a clarification yesterday that suggests that libraries might not qualify… they don’t mention libraries, and their General Counsel previously said that it does apply, but what they state does suggest an exemption.
(didn’t see this until after posting)
Keepin children safe from exposure of lead and phthalate is great, but to even think about barring children under 12 from going to a library is ABSOLUTELY WRONG! What would our world be like today if we had said that 20 or 50 years ago? Keeping children from entering libraries is not the answer and should not even be considered!
As a father and a pediatrician (retired), I have vivid memories of children’s books with thoroughly chewed edges. For little children and some with mental handicaps, chewing or sucking on books is a common practice. Therefore, I look to data that indicates that children’s books do not contain lead or phthalate, which was supplied by the CPSIA by rejected by the CPSC General Counsel for unknown reasons. The data indicate that books pose no significant risk to children. While more data might be useful, it seems prudent to grant an exemption or stay of the order until it is demonstrated that books on the shelves are safe. After all, the absence of books on library shelves presents a greater risk to children’s wellbeing than the risk of our children being poisoned by them.
Dr. Seuss Meets the CPSIA —
“In the town of Bedubble, far out on the Moor,
there lived a small tot, who was not more than four.
Little Annabelle Ruth (her close friends would recall)
had swallowed the string from a dilly-dunk ball.”
Read the rest of the story here!
http://www.easyfunschool.com/the_CPSIA_meets_Dr_Seuss.html