The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) was created in 1972 and till now, it has taken charge of protecting consumers against risks of injuries resulting from the usage of unsafe products. The Consumer Product safety Improbvement Act (CPSIA) was registered into the American law to further strengthen the safety measures required in consumer products.
Most recently, laws have been implemented and planned to further reduce children’s exposure to lead. Too much lead in your blood may cause irreversible brain damage, kidney problems and may even be fatal. In the late 1970s, the situation was so severe, that millions of children in America had been tested that they had elevated blood lead levels that were deemed unhealthy!
The CPSC noticed the severity of the situation and have concluded that any children’s product that contains more than 600 parts per million (ppm) of lead in any part of an accessible product would be seen as dangerous. Which means that any children’s product from toys to baby nursery bedding which contains more than 600ppm would be dangerous for children under the CPSIA.
The Commission has also described that any person at the age of 12 years or younger would be seen as children under the law and all products that were made with the objective of marketing predominantly to these group of children will have to adhere to it.
This law also applies to all baby nursery bedding, nursery decoration, toys and children’s products that were manufactured before the date of the law that was implemented. Besides the CPSC also requires all goods that were manufactured after 90 days since the creation of the rule to be assessed by an accredited third party. This is to assure that manufacturers comply to the safety rules that the Commission has implemented.
In addition, they have shown their dedication in ensuring all children products non-toxic by planning to reduce the limits to 300ppm in August and further reduce it again in 2011 to a level which is seen reasonable according to the technology available by then. However, with the rapid advancement of technology, all toys and baby nursery bedding might contain only traces of lead and would be extremely safe for use in the near future.