Rant: No Books Please, Our Children Are Safe

Book Burning (We'll know better - we'll recycle!)

We are a week into the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and I still think it is badly written. Overlawyered has a partial listing of businesses and charities impacted (such as Goodwill throwing out all children’s books before 1985, charities refusing donations of children’s items, businesses closing).

Today, I’m going to focus on the law’s impact on book resellers. Partially because I love books and browsing in second-hand bookstores. Also, I sometimes sell some of my books on eBay or craigslist so I am technically a reseller. So, yes, more than a passive interest since I don’t want to break the law.

Caveat: I’m not a lawyer, and some of the CPSIA documents are, let’s just say, dry. I have referred to source documents wherever possible, and welcome correction to my interpretation. OK, let’s start diving.

Start Point: CPSIA guidance for Resellers

1. You are not required to test. However, resellers (including those who sell on auction Web sites) cannot knowingly sell children’s products that do not meet the requirements of the law.
2. You do not want to be selling products that have the potential to cause harm to anyone, especially a child.
3. It is now against the law to sell a recalled product.
4. Sellers should avoid products likely to have lead, phthalates, or do not meet mandatory toy standards (see Table C for a list of commonly sold goods). From Table C: Books – “ordinary” children’s titles e.g. paperbacks and hardbacks : OK to sell, if printed after 1985

Point 1: Requirements of the Law for Books (Source: CPSC’s FAQ on the CPSIA)

Q: Does the new requirement for total lead on children’s products apply to children’s books?

A: In general, yes. These products would be subject to the

• lead limit for paint and surface coatings at 16 CFR part 1303 (and the 90 ppm lead paint limit effective August 14, 2009)
• new lead limits for children’s products containing lead (600 ppm lead limit effective February 10, 2009, and 300 ppm lead limit effective August 14, 2009)
• If the children’s products use printing inks or materials which actually become a part of the substrate…such as by electroplating or ceramic glazing, they would be excluded from the lead paint limit. However, these products are still…subject to the lead limits for children’s products containing lead. CPSIA specifically provides that paint, coatings, or electroplating may not be considered a barrier that would render lead in the substrate inaccessible to a child.

Q:  How can I determine if something has lead in it?

A:   You may want to hire a qualified, trained person in your area who can quickly screen all of your suspect products with a handheld device called an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) machine. You should not rely on commercially sold lead testing kits. CPSC staff have determined that the kits are prone to give “false positive” or “false negative” results.

My take: I’m guessing most cases of lead paint in books falls into the category of colored cover pictures (coatings or electroplating) so resellers have to know the total content of the lead in the book (via its pictures).

Point 2: Determining if product has the potential to cause harm to anyone

OK, I give up on this one. I cannot find anything more specific than the above. Charitably, I would say that books could not ‘have the potential to cause harm’. But if I were facing litigation, this nebulous clause would make me very nervous.

My take: None. Just hope that no kid tries to use the book to slug someone.

Point 3: Check if it is a recalled product

This one makes sense at face value. However, the list of recalled products is ever-expanding and sometimes the reasons given border on paranoia. As a pop quiz, can you guess why these books were recalled?

Random House Board Book Set - Winnie the Pooh

Dalmation Press - Builder Board Book Set

Advantage Publishers - Amazing Baby Activity Book

Simon & Schuster's - Dora the Explorer

Candlewick Press - Bunny My Honey

Answers!

Winnie the Pooh Board Book Set - The plastic snaps can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children (Injuries reported: 0)

Builder Board Book Set – The cylinder on the toy concrete mixer and the tailgate on the toy dump truck can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children.(Injuries reported: 0)

Amazing Baby Activity Book – If the clear plastic container is removed from the book’s back cover or breaks, young children can access the beads in it. This poses a choking hazard to young children. (Publishers received one report of a child accessing beads in the books’ clear plastic containers. No injuries have been reported.)

Dora Book -The yellow and orange balloon is used as a slide to reveal answers to questions in the book. A plastic replica of a balloon attached to the book can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children. (Injuries reported: 0)

Bunny My Honey book – The plastic lamination on the board book may peel off, posing a choking hazard for young children. (Injuries reported: 0)

My take: Board books, small parts look like a liability and formed the majority of the recalls when I searched the CPSC recall site. It’s a shame, though, because the ruling encompasses books for up to 12 years, and the ‘possible choking hazard’ (Yes, the ruling applies up to 12 years old!) could preclude books with manipulatives like Cuisenaire rods, science kits.

Point 4: Avoid products with phthalates and lead but OK to sell if printed after 1985

Phthalates are added to plastics to keep them soft and flexible.

The 1985 reason is given by Commissioner Thomas Moore in his letter: “The book publishers have asserted that children’s books pose no problems, but we know that the ink used in children’s books prior to the 1980’s did contain lead.”

My take: Mostly infant/toddler books would be affected by the phthalates requirement. The 1985 requirement makes little sense, even with the ink reason, because children would have to ingest large quantities of the book to be poisoned. Like it or not, CPSC has decided that we are safer with books published in our Brave New (Post-1984) World. Without testing, say goodbye to books such as these that inspired Ray Bradbury (h/t: Valerie Jacobsen, BookroomBlog). Watch the video, CPSC, and tell me again: All those books are potentially dangerous.

Wrap-Up: Putting The Requirements Together

Is your head spinning yet? Mine is, and I wrote this rant. If I were to code a program to meet the requirements before selling a book:

1. Check if book is on recall list. If yes, toss book.
   
2. Check if book is printed after 1985. If yes, whoo-hoo, safe zone (keep checking the CPSC to make sure it doesn’t move the cutoff).
   
3. If book is before 1985, send it for certification (cheapest quote: $100/hour). If higher than the current limits (which will be lowered twice this coming year), toss book
4. If book doesn’t sell, repeat steps 1 and 3 because #1 is an expanding list and the limits in #3 get lower every year.
   

This is a loooong way from the days when I looked at a book, thought, “Other people might like this” and made an Amazon/eBay listing. <sarcarsm>With requirements like these, it’s just easier to plop the kids in front of a TV screen – no moving parts, no lead based components, no choking or chemical hazards unless they figure out how to open the remote control and swallow the batteries </sarcasm>

So much fuss over books, but not enough people actually reading them . CPSIA – way to go in solving that problem (I don’t need another sarcasm tag, do I?).