Ban on Bling? New Lead Rules May Cost $1 Billion in Lost Business; Restrictions Impact Manufacturers, Retailers, Thrift Stores even Church Bazaars

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Unless Congress acts quickly, the world’s toughest prohibition on lead in consumer products could cost the U.S. thousands of jobs and millions of dollars says those familiar with the new restrictions. Not to mention taking the sparkle out of kids’ costumes, accessories, clothing and more - think Halloween with no tiaras for princesses or jewels in pirate loot, but the nightmare begins with job losses and warehouses that will have to destroy millions in inventory.

“We all want to protect children from harmful exposure to lead,” says Sheila Millar, a veteran consumer product attorney with Washington, D.C.’s Keller and Heckman, LLP. “But the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008 will effectively ban products - such as rhinestone-studded jewelry, clothing or footwear - that have shown no association with lead exposure in children. This is causing enormous losses for manufacturers and retailers during one of the worst economic downturns in decades. Many of those retailers and manufacturers are small business owners – the very people most affected by this economy.”

According to a story in Congress Daily on March 20, 2009, the CPSC, “placed the cost of lost business at well over $1 billion.”

Recently, on behalf of the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association and other trade groups, Millar asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to exempt crystal and glass rhinestones and beads in children’s jewelry, clothing, footwear and accessories. Millar says that the law imposes limits on total lead, rather than requiring the CPSC to assess exposure to harmful amounts of lead.

“The CPSC staff has offered a thoughtful analysis of the problems, and assesses the impact of inaction at billions of dollars across all of the affected industry sectors. At a minimum Congress should assure that the nation’s product safety agency is able to make decisions based on an assessment of whether there’s any real potential for harmful exposure to lead,” Millar reasons.