Feds target lead paint, chemicals in children’s items

Local thrift store managers are scrambling to comply with new federal product safety rules that take effect Feb. 10.

The rule change, approved last year, holds thrift-store operators open to civil and criminal prosecution if children are harmed by items they sold that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Of most concern are lead levels in paint and phthalates, an industrial additive used to make plastic pliable that may cause liver disease and cancer.

Both are used in children’s toys, especially those imported from China, according to the FDA.

With possible fines as high as $100,000, some stores are closing and others are phasing out children’s products, said Adele Meyer, executive director of the Michigan-based National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops. She is leading a fight to gain exemptions for resale stores.

Goodwill Industries is trying to get clarification on the new law at the national level, said Connie Curnett, director of development and marketing in Tucson for Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona.

Curnett said Goodwill’s six thrift stores here took in $8.3 million last year and children’s toys make up about 15 percent to 20 percent of sales.

Goodwill’s top executives at its headquarters in Maryland are taking up the issue with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, she said. The commission oversees consumer safety regulations imposed by Congress.

Goodwill will ask that all nonprofit thrift stores be exempt from the new rules, she said.

“We will comply with anything we have to do under the law” if no change has been made by the Feb. 10 deadline, Curnett said.

“Our first priority is to protect the families we serve.”

She said the new law is a “one-size-fits-all that has unintended consequences.”

It’s aim is to stop the wholesale importation and resale of toys that have toxic levels of lead or a toxic compound used to make plastic pliable.

But the law also appears to apply to secondhand stores and items sold online and at yard sales.

Many toys donated to nonprofits are used and don’t come with the original packaging describing their content, Curnett points out.

Jim Kuzdal, general manager of St. Vincent de Paul thrift shops here, says he and the agency’s board of directors met earlier this month to discuss compliance with the new rules.

St. Vincent’s also is consulting with its insurer.

The reseller is trying to determine which toys and children’s products can be sold under the new limits on lead imposed by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

“Without clarity, I don’t know what to do,” said Matthew Carmine, who operates 22nd Street Thrift Store, 8099 E. 22nd St., a for-profit resale shop.

Carmine said he will look into the new requirements.

“If you can’t sell it, I wouldn’t sell it,” he said.

Finding out what “it” is requires research. “There seems to be very little information available,” Carmine said.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has come up with a list of about 1,700 products that thrift and consignment stores must clear off their shelves by Feb. 10 and avoid selling in the future. But the list is only a starting point. There are probably many more hazardous products that have never been tested and aren’t on the list. There, shop owners are on their own in weeding them out.

The commission “expects every company to comply fully with the new laws,” according to a recent news release from the product safety agency’s office of public affairs in Washington, D.C.

“Resellers should check the CPSC Web site” at www.cpsc.gov before “taking into inventory or selling a product,” it advises.

Among the product categories resellers “should pay special attention to” are cribs, play yards, children’s jewelry, painted wood or metal toys, and stuffed toys with eyes or noses that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard.

The stricter lead limits were approved after toys imported from China were found to contain potentially toxic lead levels in paint. Thousands of toys were recalled.

On Feb. 10, children’s products with lead content of more than 600 parts per million cannot be sold in the U.S. That level drops to 300 ppm in August. Lead exposure can cause a host of illnesses.

“We’re not going to have compliance officers out visiting garage sales,” said Sonia Hayes-Pleasant, a spokeswoman with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “But they do need to be aware that is illegal to sell those items,” she said.

Kuzdal said St. Vincent de Paul’s two thrift stores here sell mostly clothing, furniture and housewares, along with some toys.

The South Side store at 829 S. Sixth Ave. has about two dozen vintage children’s train cars for sale, along with stuffed animals and other toys.

“We might have to eliminate all painted toys,” Kuzdal said.

He said the thrift shops earlier banned the sale of electric power extension cords and infant car seats, on advice of the nonprofit’s insurer after warnings by the CPSC.

Miracle Center Thrift Store, 5527 E. Pima St., is a faith-based nonprofit reseller of used goods that supports transitional housing for women and children with its revenue.

Ron Push, the shop’s general manager, said the current toy section is “teeny” but when the store expands soon, it could have its own toy section.

“If there are lead problems, we will inform ourselves,” he said.

Toys that are “questionable” won’t be offered for sale, he said.

The Arizona Republic contributed to this article.

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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2008

It’s the most comprehensive overhaul of consumer product safety laws since the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972.

The new law was triggered by recalls of imported toys made with lead paint and other hazards, such as phthalates, a type of industrial material that makes plastic pliable.

It sets retroactive limits on lead and phthalates in products aimed at people ages 12 and younger. It creates new safety standards for those products. It requires third-party testing and certification, in addition to product tracking labels and new warnings in advertising and on Web sites for toys and games.

It was approved by Congress on Aug. 14 and takes effect Feb. 10.

Source: The Arizona Republic

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WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW

Recalled toys

• On Aug. 2, 2007, Fisher-Price recalled about 967,000 toys, including some that feature Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and other licensed characters.

• On Aug. 14, 2007, Mattel recalled about 253,000 toy “Sarge” cars.

• On June 13, 2007, RC2 Corp. recalled about 1.5 million “Thomas and Friends” wooden railway toys.

The toys may be for sale at thrift stores.

Lead poisoning

• Lead poisoning occurs when a person swallows or breathes in pieces of lead or lead dust. Lead travels in the blood to body organs, including bones and the brain. Lead poisoning can affect a child’s growth, behavior and ability to learn.

• A child can get lead poisoning by swallowing or breathing in lead contained in paint. Dust and paint chips from chipped and peeling lead paint ingested by children are the main source of childhood lead poisoning.

Source: New York State Health Department

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Edge, Family, Local. Tags for this post: Consumer, Edge-Consumer, Edge-Consumer-Local, Family-Family, Family-Family-Local, Health, Local-Health, Local-Health-Local, page-a01, Sheryl Kornman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.