Consumer Products Safety Commission: Children products

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) was created in 1972 and for more than 30 years, it has taken the responsibility of safeguarding consumers against the dangers of suffering injuries that results from the usage of unsafe products. Under the Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was signed into the United States law to further strengthen the safety measures required in consumer products.

Most recently, laws have been implemented and aimed to further reduce children’s exposure to lead. Lead poisoning may result in irreversible brain damage, kidney problems and may even be fatal. In the late 1970s, the problem was so serious, that there were millions of children in the United States with elevated blood lead levels that were seen harmful to their health!

The CPSC noticed the severity of the situation and have concluded that any children’s product that contains more than 600 parts per million (ppm) of lead in any part of an accessible product would be seen as dangerous. Which means that any children’s product from toys to baby nursery bedding which contains more than 600ppm would be dangerous for children under the CPSIA.

The Commission has also described that any person at the age of 12 years or younger would be seen as children under the law and all products that were made with the intention of selling mainly to the these group of children will have to comply to it.

This law also applies to all baby nursery bedding, nursery decoration, toys and children’s products that were manufactured before the date of the law that was implemented. The Commission also requires all goods that were manufactured after 90 days since the establishment of the rule to be tested by an accredited third party. This is to assure that manufacturers comply to the safety rules that the Commission has implemented.

In addition, they have shown their determination in making all products non-toxic by planning to reduce the limits to 300ppm in August and further reduce it again in 2011 to a level which is seen justifiable to the availability of technology by then. However, with the rapid advancement of technology, all toys and baby nursery bedding might contain only traces of lead and would be extremely safe for use in the near future.