Anti-lead law causes small business devastation
Examiner Editorial
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February 26, 2009
Although horror stories keep pouring in about severe economic problems caused by an anti-lead law that went into effect February 10, Congress continues to ignore the cries for relief. The law, called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, provides fines starting at $100,000 per violation, plus possible jail time, for anybody convicted of selling lead-containing items intended for use by children aged 12 or under. Nobody denies that lead ingestion can cause severe health problems, especially in children. As usual, though, Congress overreacted by firing a legislative bazooka when nothing nearly so strong was needed – and then invited further trouble by letting state attorneys general sue, or hire outside jackpot-justice lawyers to sue, to enforce their own interpretations of the law.
Just how stringent are the new law’s anti-lead provisions? The Manhattan Institute’s Walter Olson has been tracking it for months at www.overlawyered.com, and his reports are chilling. Businesses selling everything from child motor scooters to used children’s books, to clothing stores and thrift shops, are throwing out inventory, laying off workers, or even going out of business. The Motorcycle Industry Council, for instance, reliably estimates at least $1 billion in economic damages from frozen inventory, payroll losses, and lost service-and-accessory sales of children’s motorbikes. Worse is the effect, both economic and cultural, on children’s book shops. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has advised that all children’s books produced before 1985 be taken off the market – even though, as Olson notes, “no one seems to be able to produce a single instance in which an American child has been made ill by lead in old book illustrations.”
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), the law’s sponsor, says the law allows the CPSC to make “commonsense exceptions” to anti-lead requirements. But even the CPSC itself has told trade groups that its hands are tied by “the difficult standard… for exclusions.” So businesses like A Kid’s Dream consignment shop in Conway, Ark., had to close its doors because of the law. Finally, charities nationwide will no longer be able to sell old items in fundraisers they use to finance social services. Salvation Army spokeswoman Melissa Temme, for instance, said some 16,000 fewer people in substance-abuse rehabilitation programs will be served by her organization as a result of the law. This law is an utter disaster. Congress ought to fix it, immediately.
