Posted by Valerie on November 23, 2009
I’ve taken some time off from blogging due to some illness. I had surgery earlier this month and feel much better than I have in months!
2.1 Million Drop-side Cribs Recalled
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
This is an attack on American businesses and American families, and it won’t save lives.
When you read about two million cribs dating back sixteen years, don’t think “two million babies.” These cribs have been used for second and third children and passed on to sisters-in-law and sold in garage sales. When you read about two million cribs, think multiple millions of happy, healthy, safe babies.
Four infants suffocated in broken or improperly assembled cribs. That’s an image that my mind reflexively attempts to eject, but with four deaths among multiple millions of babies I can only conclude that these cribs are safe.
Babies die because humans are born and live their whole lives fragile; sadly, it just doesn’t take that much to hurt us. Automobiles, tricycles, homes with stairs, sidewalks, grapes, hotdogs, potato chips, playgrounds, swimming pools, and day care centers are all more dangerous than these cribs!
Stork Craft already recalled 500,000 cribs in January due to mattress bracket failures. (No serious injuries; no deaths.) With both recalls considered, Stork Craft has now committed to mailing replacement part kits to up to 2.6 million consumers.
Is this really best for babies? Think about it. Stork Craft has to cover the legal bills it’s already incurred, whatever law suits crop up now, the replacement parts, the communication and the postage along with possibly dozens of costs that haven’t occured to me.
Where will this money come from? It will come from some combination of laying off employees (no baby or child ever feels the effects of that), decreasing production costs (harmless, certainly), and increasing retail prices (if no crib, then what?).
Is this really best for babies? The government should have left the question open. Thanks to CPSIA, now, these cribs won’t appear in any thrift store or any crisis pregnancy center. No one’s going to go to jail to fence a cheap crib.
I promise you that there are mothers who can’t afford a new crib. Without a safe used crib, and if they don’t take their babies to bed with them, what will they use? A dresser drawer? A cardboard box? A basket not engineered for baby use? The narrow space between a mattress and the wall?
I wish that you could reassure me that no baby could possibly be hurt by this horrible ruling, but you can’t.
I wish that you could reassure me that within five years some social worker won’t be taking a baby because he’s sleeping in a clean cardboard box, but you can’t.
Did anyone mention that the parts in the replacement kits will also eventually wear out or be improperly installed?
What then?
Posted by Valerie on April 20, 2009
Shortly after I learned about CPSIA, I also learned that I was expecting a baby. Along with trying to fight this horrible aggression against my family and against so many other families, I have also been dealing with morning sickness, lack of energy, and exhaustion. Along with the joy that a baby brings, pregnancy can be very challenging, and this one has been more challenging than most of mine.
Now you know why I didn’t just jump in the car and drive to DC for that April 1st CPSIA Rally! (And I was tempted, believe me!)
It’s been a rough three months. So many times I have laid my head on my desk feeling unable to press on with my work day. And then, past the usual work of running our business, supporting our family, it has been necessary to continually write another letter, make another call, or make another post here or there to oppose CPSIA. Tough stuff, really, but who can quit? Families will suffer most when we say the least; pressing on is not optional.
Since Saturday night, sorrow and grief have been added to our joy; we lost our dear baby at 12.5 weeks of pregnancy. It appears that our baby died three weeks ago. I say that sorrow and grief are added to joy because we know that our children may life forever. The fact that the grave is not our end or theirs is far from a joyless prospect.
Until this weekend, I’ve been watching for clothing for like-new used clothing for a newborn baby. After each of my babies outgrows the baby clothes, I give them away to someone who needs them. My atttitude has been that baby clothes are cheap and abundant: I can buy more as and if I need them. I have found the most adorable, 100% cotton baby clothes, new or like-new for 50 cents or $1.00 each. I’ll pay up to $3.00 for something really special. I’ll wash everything in baby soap, fold it all, pack it all in the drawers and then be ready for each new baby.
In my several attempts to shop for baby clothes this time around, I found exactly one little newborn sleeper at Goodwill a few weeks ago. I didn’t love the style, so I didn’t buy it. Thrift stores are no longer a source of baby clothing in my area, apparently, so I’d concluded that I’d use garage sales to dress this baby. I hoped that people either would not have heard of CPSIA, would not believe it applies to them, would assume that they wouldn’t be caught with any banned hazardous material–or would simply assess the situation and determine that this is one of those times when government has gone TOO FAR for a free Republic.
For now, I no longer need baby clothes, but other mommies still do. I believe that it’s time for civil disobedience for the children’s sake. If you have baby clothing or children’s clothing or other children’s items, look for a family to use them. I support what Goodwill and the Salvation Army are doing, but please don’t give them clothing that they will be compelled to discard.
We’ve walked this road of loss before, and it’s not easy. It’s been a very difficult three months in many, many ways and for many reasons, and it’s been no fun to add CPSIA to that mix. All things considered, most not revealed, it has seemed to me that I have reached the outer limits of my ability to endure. Maybe not, but I am so very weary.
I tell my children that the greatest thing about little babies is that they have the potential to live forever with Jesus in Heaven. I am not a materialist. I am certain that there is an unseen world as real as this one and that, as millions know and millions more suspect, it has been kindly revealed to us in the Bible.
I suspected that I had lost the baby a couple of weeks ago, but between learning that my baby had certainly died on Tuesday and having a natural miscarriage on Saturday, three of my children were in an accident on Wednesday where the car they were in was completely destroyed. It was a head-on collision with one driver going about 55 mph; the front end of the car is gone.
Looking from car to passengers, the contrast seems miraculous. It’s a goner, and they are still with us. The driver, a friend of ours, has back pain. My second daughter, Kristen, has lots of aches and pains (right shoulder and left thumb the worst). My third daughter, Kelsey, had neck and chest pain, but now just her chest hurts, and she misses picking up her little brother. My fourth daughter, Katelyn, got the worst of the impact. She broke her arm high up by the shoulder. (At first, she thought that her arm had been amputated. At first, those with a wider field of vision thought the shoulder had been dislocated.) Kate had surgery to wire the bone together, and she’s expected to be as good as new. The wires will be removed in three weeks.
Almost 19 years and 11 children, and this is our first broken bone in the family. We’re not big ones for running to the doctor, so Kate’s surgery and night at the hospital were the first time she’d ever seen a doctor or taken medicine. She’s almost fourteen and is amazed and impressed with how kind people in hospitals are.
Over and over again she said, “Everyone here is so nice!” And I would tell her that people generally become doctors and nurses because they like people and like to help people feel better.
Confronted with the 1-10 pain scale the twentieth time and giving a thoughtful response, Kate added, ”I have to say. This chart makes it easier to assess my condition.”
We’re so grateful for air bags, seat belts (the seatbelt bruises and abrasions are drawing impressive choruses of oohs and aahs from the little ones–and are a vivid picture of the force of the accident and its potential to cause serious or deadly injury), and we’re grateful for modern surgical techniques. Most of all, we’re grateful to God who gave us these good gifts and watches over us constantly.
Life brings sadness. It can be very hard, but it is also rich and good. I look all around me and see good gifts. This week, I’m grateful for the lives of three children who have survived.
Comments:
Filed Under: CPSIA
Posted by Valerie on April 4, 2009
It would be good if ALL manufacturers took steps to limit potentially harmful substances in their products, but if we do not phase in changes in a reasonable, measured way and if we do not create exemptions for thrift stores and resellers, children will be HURT.
Thrift stores all over America are currently THROWING AWAY coats, boots, hats, and mittens because they are afraid that offering those products will result in fines that would destroy them.
They cannot afford to test, which we know that the law does not explicitly require for them, but they feel that they also cannot afford not to know what they are selling.
Really, let’s look at the record. To the best of our collective knowledge *no* child has ever been poisoned by an article of clothing, but we can easily imagine that it will be very, very difficult for low and middle income parents to get adequate, affordable used clothing for their children this next winter.
My local Goodwill normally sells every children’s winter coat that they stock. Now, they are throwing away most of these coats. How many can they throw away today before some kids will suffer this next winter as a result?
How terribly sad it is that in removing an extremely remote risk from lead-in-clothing, we’ve very likely created a higher risk of injury from cold exposure.
Seven months from now, I predict that we will have children who can’t go to school because their parents can’t find affordable used coats for them at thrift stores. I predict that we will have children with frostbitten toes because their parents can’t find used winter boots and can’t afford new ones.
We can’t think only in terms of business vs. consumer–as if that’s the real equation. We have to think in terms of the children. Winter cold protection is only one issue. There are others that clearly,genuinely affect health and safety. WE NEED TO THINK: WHAT DO CHILDREN OF ALL INCOME LEVELS NEED–AND HOW WILL THEY BE ABLE TO OBTAIN THOSE THINGS UNDER THIS NEW LEGISLATION?
If we think in this way, we will discover that CPSIA needs more work FOR THE CHILDREN’S SAKE. Children will suffer if some adults do not swallow some pride, step up to the plate and work harder to make changes that our children really need.
The truth is that children’s businesses and consumer groups are both on the side of children. In fact, most owners and employees of children’s businesses are, to one degree or another, consumers of children’s products. How do we divide ourselves from ourselves?
We can AND WE MUST cooperate for the sake of making the changes that America’s children, especially America’s low-income children, really need.
Do we really need to rush lead-free bicycle tire valves to market, assuming that we can even make such a thing, merely in the interest of consistency? Do we really need to insist that bicycles be made from virgin steel, rather than recycled steel, using a wasteful, environmentally challenging process that will not improve children’s health but will simply make bicycles the sole property of privileged children?
I really don’t think so. I believe that we can create legislation that effectively encourages the ongoing use of risk-based assessment and takes compassionate consideration of the fullest possible range of risks and needs of America’s children.
Comments:
Filed Under: CPSIA
Posted by Valerie on April 3, 2009
Senator Jim DeMint offered an amendment to the budget, which would have accomplished the following:
- Delayed the implementation of lead limits 6 months
- Exempted thrift stores and resellers like used bookstores
- Exempted the sale of books
- Exempted children’s bikes
- Allowed manufacturers not to re-test products made of 100% tested components
- Prevented retroactive enforcement against demonstrably safe products already in the stream of commerce
The Senate voted on this sensible, merciful relief option yesterday. Here’s the roll call. 87.5% of Republicans voted in favor of the relief amendment while 93% of Democrats voted against it.
What political strategy underlies the Democrats’ overwhelming refusal to offer any relief to low-income children and their families? Does anyone know what they’re thinking?
Comments:
Filed Under: CPSIA
Posted by Valerie on April 2, 2009
I’m happy to see that Consumer Reports published my comment to Businesses rally against CPSIA
Here’s my comment.
You write,
“Some who spoke at today’s rally, including Toy Industry Association President Carter Keithley, claimed that there are no health impacts from lead in toys.”
and
“…it’s not okay when industry challenges the effects of lead on children’s health. It is absurd and flies in the face of good science.”
If you want to prove that a statement is false, you must address it, and you have not done so. Yes, lead is a hazardous neurotoxin, but this does not prove that current model toys are having any measurable impact on children’s blood lead levels.
Only a relevant response will do. Please cite studies showing the effect of current model toys on children’s blood lead levels. Please also list published case histories of particular children whose elevated blood lead levels were traced to current model toys.
Also, please correct your characterization of the American Academy of Pediatrics on lead. What the AAP has actually said is that no safe level has been defined for lead. This means is that we don’t know the safe level; it doesn’t mean that no safe level exists. (You’d have a hard time finding a college of physicians who would agree to the latter absurdity.)
Comments:
Filed Under: CPSIA
