San Jose Mercury News reports that libraries are the latest organizations to win relief from a tough new federal law taking effect today that all but bans lead in children’s products.
On Friday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission exempted children’s books printed after 1985 from the new law’s enforcement provisions, which allow fines of as much as $100,000 per violation for selling or distributing products that contain more than 600 parts per million of lead intended for use by children 12 and younger.
“We’re jubilant,” said Barbara Roberts, president of the California Library Association on Monday. Before the exemption, Roberts said libraries across the nation faced the prospect of closing their children’s sections and discarding thousands of books from their collections. Roberts added that she was bewildered that lawmakers would pass a law with such broad reach “without thinking of the ramifications in the field.”
There’s a big exception though. Jennifer Baker, library director with the St. Helena Public Library in Napa Valley, said the law still puts off limits to children rare, older books. She said one library at which she worked kept a collection of Mother Goose books from the early 1900s, while others retain original copies of old classics, like those from the Nancy Drew or Tom Swift series, she said. I guess they’ll have to wait til they’re adults to enjoy the books.
Off limits to kids
You can’t sell to kids. Where does it say you have to keep kids away from old books? Libraries are making a lot of weird interpretations of the law.
sell OR distributing to kids
So books before 1985 are still banned? That’s a lot of children’s literature lost.
I do not think so. Attorney
I do not think so. Attorney said that the court system was not a good place to be, and I believed him after reading a couple of books by mothers who had lost their children. Forsikring
sell OR distribute
Law applies to manufacturers and resellers. I see no language in the law about distributing. I would cite something but I cannot cite a negative. I see no language that would apply to books on a libraries shelf.
The Consumer Product Safety
The Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act requires all products, including books. Forsikring
Roberts added that she was
Roberts added that she was bewildered that lawmakers would pass a law with such broad reach “without thinking of the ramifications in the field.”
Really? They seem to do it everyday!
What’s next? Will they come
What’s next? Will they come into our homes to see what has lead in them? Are we going to get rid of everything in our homes, schools, churches, cars, stores, etc. that children under 12 make touch or ingest? I can see making sure new toys and clothes are tested and safe. But for everyone to throw away vintage books and toys, and used clothes, etc. is absolutely bizarre! Not what we need in this economic crisis.