Oh, what the harry. Let's do some democracy.

John Schwenkler, Mark from Publius Endures, and Scott Payne are trying to spread the word about CPSIA (Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act). Basically, we've got a situation where the law that Congress wrote to try to make sure imported toys aren't toxic and deadly will probably force pretty much all small-scale toymakers out of business. Since I see independent toymakers as counterparts to independent record labels (which I love), I'm in on this one. For starters, here's the links:

• Got to give Robert Stacy McCain credit for writing about it last week. (And again today.)
• John Schwenkler summarizes: “The bill, which passed both chambers of Congress earlier this year with almost no opposition from anyone not named Ron Paul, requires that all toys be submitted to third-party testing and certification, and that toy makers permanently label each toy with a date and batch number to ensure easy enforcement… In any case, even if such smaller producers do manage to remain in business there can be no real doubt that such regulations would raise the cost of their products lead naturally to securing an even greater market share for those toy manufacturers that operate at a larger scale and can spread the cost of testing out over the huge volumes of toys that they make.”
• Mark sounds the call: “Fortunately, there is time to at the very least pass some form of remedial legislation or seek the scaling back of the proposed regulations. For that reason, and because this issue unites the common interests of principled liberals, conservatives, and libertarians, I can't think of many issues better suited for an non-partisan, non-ideological activist campaign.”
• The Handmade Toy Alliance believes the consequences for their business will be dire.
• Tons of information here and here.

I should point out that I don't care one bit what this law does to big groups like Mattel or Wal-Mart. They've got squads of lawyers and lobbyists to take care of things. And the unintended consequence of this law seems to be that the big manufacturers that are the targets will end up with a bigger market share, as their apparently innocent small competitors are forced to close shop.

It really looks to me like the law needs a big exemption, or at least a different set of standards, for small toymakers. (And I think this all applies to clothing manufacturers too!) This is, in fact, what the Handmade Toy Alliance is proposing.

One danger of getting involved in something like this is that I've only been able to read advocacy websites. If you can show me that small toymakers and clothing manufacturers present a real danger to children, I'll think twice. And if you can show me that the costs imposed on these smaller businesses will be equal to or less than those that the big groups get stuck with, I'll think twice. But, from everything I've read, it looks pretty clear this legislation is going to turn a bunch of innocent artisans into either unemployed persons or criminals.

I'm going to come back to this again after I've had a chance to look into it some more.

I've got some letters to write this weekend.