Comments on: Feds target kids’ books as unsafe

By: Are books dangerous? at Joanne Jacobs

Are books dangerous? at Joanne Jacobs — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:39:28 +0000

[...] Library Association argues libraries can distribute pre-1985 books without expensive testing. But libraries may have to comply too. One CPSC commissioner, Thomas Moore, has already called for libraries to [...]

By: CPSIA Blog Day #1: Past CPSIA bloggers

CPSIA Blog Day #1: Past CPSIA bloggers — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:22:53 +0000

[...] Among the bloggers who’ve done excellent posts on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, but who don’t primarily blog on this or nearby topics, are BeliefNet’s Rod Dreher (who was onto the thrift store angle very early), John Schwenkler of Upturned Earth, Mark Thompson @ Publius Endures, economist Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution, Advice Goddess columnist Amy Alkon, Iain Murray at CEI “Open Market”, Jeff Nolan at Venture Chronicles, Patrick @ Popehat, Eve Tushnet (scroll a lot to Jan. 15), and leading education blogger Joanne Jacobs. [...]

By: ricki

ricki — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:26:07 +0000

Just wait until someone decides SOMETHING MUST BE DONE to make food even safer than it is.

I think I’m gonna learn how to trap and dress rabbits, just so I won’t be one of the ones who starves.

By: Wacky Hermit

Wacky Hermit — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:21:06 +0000

The wording of the law is “consumption or warehousing or distributed in commerce”. I would presume that a library constitutes “warehousing”.

See the law here: http://cpsc.gov/cpsia.pdf

Read it and weep for our country.

By: david foster

david foster — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:20:43 +0000

Lots of coverage of this issue here.

By: david foster

david foster — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:03:05 +0000

Entirely possible that some libraries are overreacting, as Virginia suggests. (Certain corporations, for example, have tied themselves into knots over Sarbanes-Oxley to evan a greater degree than that required by the law)…but if the operative term in the law is “selling,” then it would probably apply to children’s books sold by bookstores and on-line.

But there appears to be no question that this law will be extemely harmful to many manufacturers, at the same time that Congresspeople blather on about how they want to protect “good manufacturing jobs.”

If Congress is unable to deal with such a relatively simple issue in a responsible fashion, why would we think that their ever-deeper intervention into all aspects of the economy would be likely to have a good outcome?

By: Virginia Postrel

Virginia Postrel — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:15:22 +0000

This is a crazy law–even more so than you’d think from this post–but it should not affect libraries. It applies to SELLING products for children. It shouldn’t apply to products that were already in library collections, unless they’re conducting used book sales. Of course, it will almost certainly make children’s books more expensive, but that’s another problem.

By: heroditus huxley

heroditus huxley — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:50:16 +0000

I had my son in October. I’m going to start stocking up on books and toys now. All I can say is thank God my mom kept my old books.

Oh, by the way, I linked to and commented on this post over on my blog.

By: Mia

Mia — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:28:12 +0000

Oh yeah…that’s what we need. Let’s take BOOKS out of the hands of children. Let’s close libraries – the kids might accidentally learn something. What a bunch of morons we have in Congress. We need term limits worse than we need more silly government intervention. I’m thinking a limit of ONE term would be good.

By: greifer

greifer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:37:53 +0000

Silly, just fund it from the stimulus package! Ecofriendly makework at its best!