Use the letter template below to send to your Senators and Representative. Replace those parts in ALL CAPS with your personal information.
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From:
[YOUR NAME
AND ADDRESS]
To:
Honorable [YOUR SENATOR or REPRESENTATIVE]
United States [SENATE or HOUSE]
[CURRENT DATE]
Re: The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) unintended consequences
Dear [YOUR SENATOR or REPRESENTATIVE],
The economic crisis in our country is distressing to millions of Americans. That is why it concerns me that under the CPSIA, many small business owners will be driven out of business, deepening the crisis. The premise of self reliance and entrepreneurship on which this country was founded is in jeopardy.
I am very concerned that the CPSIA's mandates for third party testing will have a dramatic and negative effect on small businesses whose safety record has always been exemplary. It will devastate small manufacturers and home businesses who create children's products such as clothes, handmade goods and toys for children, children's books, adaptive products for children with disabilities, and classroom and home school materials. These small businesses simply cannot afford the $300-$4,000 price tag per product that third party testing labs are charging.
Under the CPSIA, small businesses are treated exactly the same as the multi-national corporations like Mattel who were behind the 2007 toy safety scare in the first place. It costs the same to test a batch of 50,000 plastic toys in China as it does to test a dozen handmade dolls in the United States.
I urge you to fight for an exemption to third party testing for small batch manufacturers of children's products. We need an exemption similar to what local and organic farmers were provided in the Food Safety law. Without this important change, the CPSIA will destroy thousands of small businesses across the country.
These toy makers, crafters, publishers and small home based businesses have earned and kept the public's trust. They provide jobs for thousands and quality playthings and educational products for hundreds of thousands. Their unique businesses should be protected. Please visit www.handmadetoyalliance.org to learn more about this issue.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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