Looks like letter wrting to the Congress Critters is starting to get
their attention.

http://republicans.energycommerce.ho..._%20Waxman.pdf

Len

Letter from my congressman showing his concern for small business and his
understanding of the real world



MITCH McCONNELL

KENTUCKY

361-A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON. DC 20510-1702

(202) 224-2541

January 13, 2009












REPUBLICAN LEADER

COMMITTEES.

AGRlCUL TURE

APPROPRJA nONS
RULES AND ADMINISTRATION







Mr. Curran Copeland
795 Rockcastle Road

Cadiz, Kentucky 42211-9353

Dear Mr. Copeland:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the safety of U.S. consumer products
such as toys and
food. Hearing your views helps me represent Kentucky in the United States
Senate.

As you know, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an independent
regulatory
agency established in 1973 to protect the public from unreasonable risks of
injury from consumer
products and to promote research into the prevention of product-related
harms. Similarly, the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the u.s. Department of Agriculture's
Food Safety and
Inspection Service (FSIS) administer the federal government's food
regulatory system. While
FSIS inspects meat, poultry, and processed egg products, FDA inspects all
other items to ensure

safety and proper labeling.
'

During 2007, several categories of imported items drew concern and scrutiny,
ranging from toys
with excessive amounts of lead to contaminated pet food. Like you, I believe
that the items sold
to American families must always be safe. As such, the federal government
has taken additional
steps to improve the safety of U.S. imports. For example, in 2007, the Food
and Drug
Administration issued warnings and announced import controls on various
imported items such
as pet food, farm-raised seafood, toothpaste, and other products found to
violate U.S. health and
safety regulations. And, in 2008, Congress passed and the President signed
H.R. 4040, the
CPSC Reform Act. The CPSC Reform Act helps promote safety by providing
further oversight
fOJ product testing before products are placed on the market.

In your correspondence, you expressed your concerns regarding the product
regulations
promulgated in accordance with the CPSC Reform Act. As you may know, the
regulations
required by the CPSC Reform Act become effective on February 10, 2009. Some
observers,
including some small businesses that manufacture toys and clothing: argue
that the regulations
will result in the loss of pre-February 2009 inventories as well as impose
significant compliance
costs. However, proponents of the new standards support them as important to
safety. On
January 8, 2009, the CPSC announced that the new regulations would go into
effect on February
10, 2009, to regulate the amount of lead and other potentially harmful
substances in consumer
products. The new standard for lead content will be phased in so that some
products created
before February 10, 2009, will still be permitted on store shelves until
August 9, 2009._







Federal Building
241 E. Main Street
Room 102

Bowling Green. KY 42101
(270) 781-1673




1885 Dixie Highway
Suite 345

Fort Wright, KY 410 II
(859) 578-0188




771 Corporate Drive
Suite 108

Lexington. KY 40503
(859) 224-8286




300 South Main
Suite 310

London. KY 40741
(606) 864-2026




601 West Broadway
Room 630

Louisville. KY 40202
(502) 582-6304




Professional Arts Building
2320 Broadway

Suite toO

Paducah. KY 42001
(270) 442-4554



Page 2

January 13,2009

I appreciate you sharing with me your concerns regarding the CPSC
regulations. Please rest
assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the full u.s. Senate
again consider CPSC
legislation in the III th Congress.

Again, thank you for contacting me to share your views on product safety.
Please do not hesitate
to keep me informed of issues that are important to you.

Sincerely,

~~

MITCH McCONNELL
UNITED STATES SENATOR

"

sweet sawdust wrote:

.... snip of Senatorial "can't do nothing about it now letter"

Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it? ... and
remember, he's one of the so-called evil free-market guys who supposedly
values business over safety. He's also part of the Senate that has almost
zero power right now. The ones in power give even less of a rip for small
businesses than this.


--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

"Len" wrote in message
...
Looks like letter wrting to the Congress Critters is starting to get
their attention.

http://republicans.energycommerce.ho..._%20Waxman.pdf

Len


Contacted Ed Whitfield's (R-Ky) office this morning about the cpsia and
talked to his legislative assistant. I was begged not to give out his name,
phone number or e-mail to anyone else. Sounds like they may be getting a
feeling that some of the public might be interested in this legislation.

I also talked to a aid in one of McConnell's (R-KY) local office and she
asked "did the senator vote for this?" "I can't believe anyone would, it's
putting too many of my friends out of business"

Some hope at he end of the tunnel?????


The following new entries have been posted to the US Consumer Product Safety
Commission's web page on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)
of 2008 located at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html in What's New:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for
Certain Products (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html)

FYI

James Robertson
Rep. Whitfield

NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2009
Release #09-115
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908


CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for
Certain Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted
unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain
testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of
regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old
and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act (CPSIA), which added certification and testing requirements
for all products subject to CPSC standards or bans.

Significant to makers of children's products, the vote by the Commission
provides limited relief from the testing and certification requirements
which go into effect on February 10, 2009 for new total lead content limits
(600 ppm), phthalates limits for certain products (1000 ppm), and mandatory
toy standards, among other things. Manufacturers and importers - large and
small - of children's products will not need to test or certify to these new
requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits,
mandatory toy standards and other requirements.

The decision by the Commission gives the staff more time to finalize four
proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead
testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is
to be conducted.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a
Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

The stay does not apply to:

a.. Four requirements for third-party testing and certification of certain
children's products subject to:
· The ban on lead in paint and other surface coatings effective for
products made after December 21, 2008;

· The standards for full-size and non full-size cribs and pacifiers
effective for products made after January 20, 2009;

· The ban on small parts effective for products made after February
15, 2009; and

· The limits on lead content of metal components of children's
jewelry effective for products made after March 23, 2009.

a.. Certification requirements applicable to ATV's manufactured after
April 13, 2009.
b.. Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for:
automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with metal
core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool slides; and
c.. Pool drain cover requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa
Safety Act.
The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the
crafters, children's garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been
subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These
businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their
products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However,
all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel
makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that
their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements,
including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons
and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy
manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft
flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.

The stay of enforcement on testing and certification does not address thrift
and second hand stores and small retailers because they are not required to
test and certify products under the CPSIA. The products they sell, including
those in inventory on February 10, 2009, must not contain more than 600 ppm
lead in any accessible part. The Commission is aware that it is difficult to
know whether a product meets the lead standard without testing and has
issued guidance for these companies that can be found on our web site.

The Commission trusts that State Attorneys General will respect the
Commission's judgment that it is necessary to stay certain testing and
certification requirements and will focus their own enforcement efforts on
other provisions of the law, e.g. the sale of recalled products.

Please visit the CPSC Web site at www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html for
more information on all of the efforts being made to successfully implement
the CPSIA.

Statements on this vote by Acting Chairman Nancy Nord and Commissioner
Thomas H. Moore are in portable document format (PDF).

---

Send the link for this page to a friend! The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of
serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under
the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and
families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical
hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as
toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals -
contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries
associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's
hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or
visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email
subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.
Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site
at www.cpsc.gov.





*****!!! Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this
e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent to you
automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by CPSC. To
subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following web page:
https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx *****!!!

"Curran Copeland" wrote in message
...
The stay does not apply to:

....
a.. Certification requirements applicable to ATV's manufactured after
April 13, 2009.
b.. Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for:
automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with
metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool
slides; and

I feel safer already. How much nervous system damage is that MF going to
suffer if he's already suckling on dirt bikes, garage door openers, and
lawnmowers?

MikeWhy wrote:

"Curran Copeland" wrote in message
...
The stay does not apply to:

...
a.. Certification requirements applicable to ATV's manufactured after
April 13, 2009.
b.. Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for:
automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with
metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool
slides; and

I feel safer already. How much nervous system damage is that MF going to
suffer if he's already suckling on dirt bikes, garage door openers, and
lawnmowers?

Hi. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.

Scariest phrase in the English language.


--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough