Owning an environmental technology company (Essco – Safety Check) and providing XRF testing services to businesses has provided me with some very valuable insight into what may happen to small businesses impacted by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) when the stay of enforcement is lifted on 2/10/11.
The CPSIA is a law that regulates the amount of lead and other harmful toxicants in children’s products. There are approximately 700,000 manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and retailers that are impacted by this law and approximately 40% of these businesses have 0-4 employees working for them. Current approved testing methods are destructive in nature, very costly and time consuming from only a select group of laboratories worldwide. XRF is a mobile, non-destructive, low-cost, fast and accurate way to determine if elements (including those regulated by the CPSIA) are present or not present in virtually anything.
In over two years of business operations I hear the same four scenarios over and over from small business owners who are impacted by the CPSIA.
1. They will try and test using approved testing methods to the best of their ability. However with the cost of this destructive testing method, they will have to reduce the number of products that they make because they can’t afford to pay for all the required testing.
2. They are going to wing it and get as much information from the manufacture/supplier of the components that they use; they can’t afford to do any testing.
3. They are not going to test at all; too expensive
4. They are going to use XRF as their “reasonable testing” method and use the results to be in compliance and create the GCC (General Certificate of Conformity) regardless of the laws.
How is the CPSIA impacting you and your decisions about the products you manufacture or purchase?
