Found this over on scansdaily. You have to wonder about the intelligence of American bureaucrats sometimes. The entire thing is as posted, with no edits by myself. (I.e., I am not to blame for any spelling or grammar errors.)

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CPSIA sounds like a supervillian plot. Unfortunately this law is all too real... How can one US law result in censorship, banning kids from libraries, bankrupt schools, cultural genocide, and taking away vital items from the disabled?

Oh yeah, and may result in many comic series being canceled of significantly increasing the price. And absolutely crushing many small presses. Censorship under another name.

Read on beyond the cut... prepare to be angry and disbelieving.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA H.R. 4040) had a good goal: protect kids from dangerous imports tainted with lead. Bravo! Unfortunately it goes about doing so in such a way that it’ll drive up costs across the board, drive many manufacturers and retailers out of business, and not really make kids any safer. And will mean many kids comics cease production.

Oh yeah, and throw in bankrupting schools, forcing libraries to ban children, and taking away products from the disabled.

So what does CPSIA do? It mandates lead testing for ALL items intended for children under 13 or PERCEIVED as being for those under age 13. So items commonly regarded as “kids stuff” even if it is intended for adults, such as many comics, plushes, animation, collectible action figures, etc, still falls under the statute even though they’re aimed at adult collectors.

It requires UNIT testing. The final product must be tested from each batch. It doesn’t matter if all the components going into it are certified and have been tested as having no lead, it still must be tested for lead. This includes even things made entirely out of certified organic products!

Here’s an example. You publish comics for kids. You're a small publisher and print two different comics with all the same materials, on the same day, on the same press, with the same crew manning it. You must test Captain Awesome and the Miss Amazing separately because they may contain lead!

This basically seems to imply that somehow alchemy works. Non-lead containing item + non-lead containing item= LEAD! It also implies that somehow a different arrangement of the words and pictures inside will generate lead.

And let's not forget that CPSIA also covers things PERCEIVED as being for those 12 and under. Which covers virtually all the comics except the porn. Comics are considered kids stuff. There's 0% lead risk from reading comics.

The manufacturer needs to provide a testing certificate to the retailer, which must be available for inspection, should a Consumer Product Safety Administration inspector come in. No certificate, the retailer can’t sell it. (watch many recent back issues vanish from your comic shop come February)

Objects without a certification have to be tested. So those copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows that were printed in 2007 that are still available new at Amazon may have to be destroyed as of February 10th 2009 because they haven’t been tested for lead. (Amazon is taking this seriously and sent a mail to all affiliates asking them to provide the lead testing certificates for all items)

How bad can the punishment be? For selling books and comics? Up to $100,000 PER ITEM and up to five years in jail. It’s also a felony. Get busted, you may lose your right to vote in some states. Even if you can fight it in court, you’ll likely go broke doing so and your local newspaper will carry the headline “Local business selling lead tainted goods”… even though you know they aren’t. Good luck getting them to print the retraction months or years later after that PR disaster.

This includes not just selling, but distribution. So you can’t donate the untested goods to your local library, Good Will, or literacy program. You also can’t sell them to overseas collectors either, as they’re illegal to export. (preventing dumping of truly toxic goods on third world markets is one of the few good portions of this law. Good job on that, bad job on the rest)

The American Library Association is FURIOUS because this basically means as of February 10th, they can't lend children's books... or they'll have to ban kids from libraries. the press release from the American Library Association

Is our children learning?

The law also has an inherent flaw: it assumes that laws weren't strict enough. It's not the laws weren't strict enough, it's that the existing ones weren't enforced!

The original problem was lead in Chinese imports. China's lead standard is stricter the US. It was at the time of the problem. (it's 90 PPM US standard is now 600PPM) The Chinese just aren't enforcing it. Or they're outright forging the documents. Or finding ways to game the test. The entire melamine fiasco was due to them gaming a different test. cheating to get around the test produced the problem!

CPSIA requires additional third party testing and documentation. Easily forged documentation. And self-reporting. Criminals do not report their crimes to the police! Assuming they will do so is absolute IDIOCY!

The original problem will still be there, it'll just now be even harder to find due to the mountain of unneccessary paperwork! Testing items that have never had any problem with lead for lead is like looking for terrorists in Antarctica. Sure, it looks like you're being thorough, but its just wasting time and money that could be used actually dealing with the problem.

What to do? Write your Congressman. You can look up the mailing info for your Congressman and Senators through House.gov and Senate.gov Call them on the phone too! Some of them may have a staffer dedicated to handling inquiries or willing to tell you which of the many addresses will get the mail in your representatives hands fastest.

You can find more info on CPSIA on:
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act
CPSIA FAQ
Ning site with centralized info
Washington Post Article on CPSIA
latest updates via Twitter
Native American tribes call CPSIA a form of forced assimilation and cultural genocide
<a href="http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php/ConsumerProductSafetyImprovementAct(CPSIA)">American Library Association wiki on CPSIA
You can call the hotline and leave a message at: 202-225-4434

Books are probably the most outrageous part of this law but here's some other things it affects:
* textbooks
* musical instruments
* bicycles
* sports equipment- including the safety equipment!
* publications for the blind
* materials for special needs children. Wheelchair? NONE FOR YOU.
* science equipment
* winter coats

The testing for some items ranges into the thousands of dollars. For items for very niche markets, particularly special needs children, this may mean some products simply become totally unavailable due to the cost. Even if you have no children, the cost to US school systems will be astronomical... and it'll be a direct hit to your property taxes. If your school district or state government is already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, this may be the shove that sends it over the edge. (Californians, I'm looking at you)

Com members that aren't US residents, write your consulate. This affects all IMPORTS as well, including stuff that's already been tested to within an inch of its life in the EU and Canada. And BOOKS printed there. Doesn't matter that it meets even stricter standards than in the US, it has to go through another round of tests.

Original post by fenrislorsai can be found <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/scansdaily/7068924.html">here.