Control freak liberals ruin toy business for some

NY Times:

For 35 years, William John Woods has made wooden toys for children. Each one of the 2,000 or so he makes each year passes through his hands at his shop in Ogunquit, Maine, and no child, he said, has ever been hurt by one of his small boats, cars, helicopters or rattles.

But now he and others like him — makers of small toys and owners of toy resale shops and boutique stores — say their livelihood is being threatened by federal legislation enacted in the last year to protect children from toxic toys through more extensive testing. Big toymakers, including those whose tainted imports from China led to the recall of 45 million toys and spurred Congress to take action, have more resources and are able to comply with the new law’s requirements.

“This is absurd,” said Mr. Woods, whose toys are made of maple, walnut and cherry and finished with walnut oil and beeswax from a local apiary. He estimates it would cost him $30,000 — a figure he calculated from having to pay $400 in required tests for each of the 80 or so different items he produces — to show that they are not toxic.

“I use beeswax,” Mr. Woods said. “The law was targeted at large toymakers using lead. There was no exclusion for benign products.”

These homegrown toymakers are banding together to portray themselves as victims of bureaucrats and consumer advocates, and have started letter-writing campaigns to Congress.

The Handmade Toy Alliance, which has a section of its Web site titled “Countdown to Extinction,” sponsored a march on Washington last April and continues to buttonhole members of Congress. Still others have hired the Washington lobbying firm of Rudy Giuliani.

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The issue has put small toymakers at odds with consumer groups, which oppose any efforts to have Congress tinker with the new law out of fear that larger companies will try to gut its core provisions.

“This is landmark legislation,” said Nancy A. Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a nonprofit that focused on safety in children’s products that supported the measure.

“These groups are not above using the small crafters to reopen the legislation and get the changes they want.”

Ms. Cowles also said parents needed to be assured that their children’s toys were safe, regardless of who made or sold them.

“From a product safety standpoint, it doesn’t make a difference whether the toy comes from a local store or a national chain,” said Ms. Cowles. “A child doesn’t know the difference and parents have the right to expect a safe product.”

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Cowles sounds like a case study in what is wrong with liberals. She is willing to be arbitrary and capricious in achieving her objective and does not care who she screws in the process. Why not have a law that says no consumer protection group can pursue a law unless they prove that there will be no collateral damage from their arrogant objectives?

As for Woods, his beeswax is hardly a dangerous substance. I would recommend that he switch from walnut oil to shellac to get around safety concerns. It is an organic product that is safe for coating candy and it makes an outstanding finish. If it gets scratched, an application of wax will usually restore the finish.

This law has been a gross overreach. It should be repealed and replaced with a simple law that prohibits certain specific substances such as lead. People like Cowles should not be allowed to run amok over the commerce of this country.

BTW, I do not make toys are small items with wood. I find them too tedious. Many times it takes as much effort to build a small item as a large one, and people tend to value the larges items more.