Magazines Archives - 2009 February

US imposes tighter limits on lead content in products for children
Story 1 - News Feature

THE US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that effective this month, lead content in children’s products imported and sold in the US must not exceed 600 parts per million (ppm). This is in line with the country’s new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

Under the CPSIA, children’s products with more than 600ppm cannot be lawfully sold in the US on or after 10 February 2009, even if they were manufactured before that date. The lead limit will drop to 300ppm from August 14 this year.

Furthermore, children’s products manufactured on or after February 10 must also contain less than 0.1% of certain specific phthalates for them to be sold in the US market, the CPSC added.

“The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and lead ban,” the productsafety watchdog said, adding that while sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores,
are not required to certify products for lead content, phthalate standards or new toy standards, they would still be held criminally liable if their products are found to violate the new rules.

“Resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information
to indicate that products being sold have less than the new limit. Resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties,” the CPSC warned.

Over the years, there have been several product recalls globally after toys were found to contain too much lead. The metal, when accumulated in the body over time, can cause irreversible neurological damage, renal disease, cardiovascular harm and reproductive toxicity.

To view full story, get a copy of Retail Asia. To subscribe, please download the subscription form from http://www.retailasiaonline.com/subscription.html