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[bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

This applies in new stores too, but won't really affect the big stores.  I 
saw this tonight on Survival blog, the story is from L.A., but the laws are 
nation-wide, and go into affect the first of next month.

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 Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

A Goodwill store in Los Angeles is among those that will be required to pay 
for private testing for lead and phthalates of all clothing for those under 
age 13.RETAIL

New safety rules for children's clothes have stores in a fit


A Goodwill store in Los Angeles is among those that will be required to pay 
for private testing for lead and phthalates of all clothing for those under 
age 13.

Some owners say the cost of testing for toxic lead and phthalates will shut 
their businesses. The law goes into effect Feb. 10.

By Alana Semuels 

January 2, 2009 

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force 
thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of 
children's clothing.

The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, 
mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including 
clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to 
make plastics more pliable. Those that haven't been tested will be considered 
hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.


"They'll all have to go to the landfill," said Adele Meyer, executive 
director of the National Assn. of Resale and Thrift Shops.

The new regulations take effect Feb. 10 under the Consumer Product Safety 
Improvement Act, which was passed by Congress last year in response to 
widespread recalls of products that posed a threat to children, including 
toys made with lead or lead-based paint.

Supporters say the measure is sorely needed. One health advocacy group said 
it found high levels of lead in dozens of products purchased around the 
country, including children's jewelry, backpacks and ponchos.


Lead can also be found in buttons or charms on clothing and on appliques that 
have been added to fabric, said Charles Margulis, communications director for 
the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland. A child in Minnesota died a 
few years ago after swallowing a lead charm on his sneaker, he said.

But others say the measure was written too broadly. Among the most vocal 
critics to emerge in recent weeks are U.S.-based makers of handcrafted toys 
and handmade clothes, as well as thrift and consignment shops that sell 
children's clothing.

"We will have to lock our doors and file for bankruptcy," said Shauna Sloan, 
founder of Salt Lake City-based franchise Kid to Kid, which sells used 
children's clothing in 75 stores across the country and had planned to open a 
store in Santa Clara, Calif., this year.

There is the possibility of a partial reprieve. The Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the law, on Monday will 
consider exempting clothing and toys made of natural materials such as wool 
or wood. The commission does not have the authority to change the law but can 
decide how to interpret it.

But exempting natural materials does not go far enough, said Stephen Lamar, 
executive vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Assn. Clothes 
made of cotton but with dyes or non-cotton yarn, for example, might still 
have to be tested, as would clothes that are cotton-polyester blends, he said.

"The law introduces an extraordinarily large number of testing requirements 
for products for which everyone knows there's no lead," he said.

Clothing and thrift trade groups say the law is flawed because it went 
through Congress too quickly. By deeming that any product not tested for lead 
content by Feb. 10 be considered hazardous waste, they contend, stores will 
have to tell customers that clothing they were allowed to sell Feb. 9 became 
banned overnight.

These groups say the law should be changed so that it applies to products 
made after Feb. 10, not sold after that date.

That would take action by Congress, however, because the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission's general counsel has already determined that the law 
applies retroactively, said commission spokesman Scott Wolfson.

The regulations also apply to new clothing. That won't be a problem for large 
manufacturers and retailers, industry experts say, but it will be a headache 
for small operators such as Molly Orr, owner of Molly O Designs in Las Vegas.

Orr has already produced her spring line of children's clothes. She says she 
can't afford the $50,000 it would cost to have a private lab test her 
clothing line, so she's trying to sell her inventory at a steep discount 
before Feb. 10. After that, she is preparing to close her business.

"We have a son with autism, so we are all about cleaning up the toxins that 
our children are exposed to," she said. "But I think the law needs to be 
looked at more closely to see how it is affecting the economy in general."

Thrift store owners say the law stings because children's garments often come 
in new or nearly new, because children typically outgrow clothing quickly.

Carol Vaporis, owner of Duck Duck Goose Consignment in New Port Richey, Fla., 
said her store stocks barely used brand-name clothing from places such as 
Limited Too and Gymboree.

"We really provide a service to the community to help people get clothes for 
their children they otherwise couldn't afford," she said.

Families have been bringing more clothes to consignment stores, where they 
get a chunk of the proceeds, to earn a little cash this winter, she said. She 
plans to contact her congressional representatives and senators to ask them 
to amend the law but says there's not enough awareness about the 
repercussions of the law to force anything to change.

Many retailers and thrift stores appear to be unaware that the law is 
changing. Of half a dozen Southern California children's thrift stores 
contacted by The Times, only one had heard of the law. Organizations such as 
Goodwill say they're still investigating how the law will affect them because 
there is so much confusion about what will be banned.

Cynthia Broockman, who owns two consignment stores and a thrift shop in 
Virginia, recently stopped accepting children's products for resale. That 
raised the ire of a man who was trying to sell his son's castoffs there and 
had not heard of the new rules.

"I think it's not understood by people how sweeping and far-reaching this 
is," she said. "The ripples that are going to go forth from this are just 
astonishing."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,02083247.story