Ok, so the I’m a little late to the party when it comes to commenting on Chairmwoman Tenebaum’s editorial in the Product Safety Letter and a lot has happened since then:
- the Handmade Toy Alliance had a call with CPSC Commissioners and Staff,
- the New York Times actually reported on the CPSIA (more on that in a future post), and
- the CPSC issued more guidance on lead testing (pdf).
The issues that I had with her editorial, however, still remain as I see this piece as an indicator of her overall approach which is that Chairwoman Tenenbaum seeks to appease consumers through smoke and mirrors instead of facts. She leads with,
Have you read news stories or heard from a friend that the government is going to start fining people who host yard sales or garage sales? It’s not true.
While factually correct (the CPSC isn’t going to start fining people who host yard sales) it is not accurate as it relates to the CPSIA, but readers are given the impression that the two are related. It only becomes more convincing to those unaware when she then goes on to talk about partnering with the biggest yard/garage sale of them all (eBay) to ensure that recalled products are no longer a threat to children.
Do you feel better yet? I don’t.
That fog machine must be doing double duty because she fails to mention that not every product that doesn’t comply with CPSIA is on the recall list. Has she, for example, been to a recent children’s apparel show and witnessed all of the “illegal” bling that still remains?
Since our brains search for the logic in things they often fill in the blanks when there is none, which is why her piece might get a lot of people nodding in agreement. ‘Everything is OK with my yard sale. Why was I ever worried?’ By not stating anything explicitly, we’re left to believe that all of the people concerned about selling rhinestone shirts, bath toys, or toy cars with brass bushings must have it wrong. There is that ‘magic list,’ after all.
By now, I’m coughing from the smoke inhalation because she fails to mention that all products are equal under the law. She never cites the very law she continually upholds with her rejections of petitions (more info here and here) which would lead me to believe that anyone selling an out-of-compliance product would be fined (and we all know how steep those fines are).
How disappointing that she didn’t take this opportunity to educate consumers instead of perpetuating the very myths that the small business community has been fighting so hard to dispel.
Oh, and I hope that her smoke machine is one of those environmentally friendly kinds because the last thing we want is yet more pollutants in the air our children breathe.
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Great last line. Ain’t that the truth.
Would be funny…if it wasn’t so sad…
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