A few weeks ago I received a beautiful organic, handmade seahorse rattle from Ecoleeko. I had planned on telling you that this ecofriendly rattle handmade of hand dyed Bamboo Fleece and Organic Cotton Corduroy. I was also going to mention that it is stuffed with natural Kapok fiber and is easy for little hands to grip unlike some of the larger, plastic rattles on the market. I would have followed this statement with the fact that the rattle is also biodegradable and that it is Stella's favorite toy!
The reason I say that I would have talked about these facts is because if some people have their way handmade toys like this rattle may not be available in the near future. Last weekend Sue from Ecoleeko contacted me making me aware of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that was passed in August 2008. It was passed as a way to prevent dangerous toys from being sold in the U.S. by banning lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requiring manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number. This law will prohibit many small handmade businesses that create anything kid related from existing after February without paying large sums of money for each of their products to be certified. Sums of money that small companies and toy makers CAN NOT afford! Their only choice will be to stop making the many toys that our children love.
Please make yourself aware and help change this law by checking out http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia.
You can also learn more at these two sites
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/ (This site has a petition you can sign and also a sample letter you can send to your Congressmen and Senators)
Please visit and pass on the info!
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