[ This is one in a series of posts by Susan Maphis covering the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade and sign up for her CPSIA Alerts Mailing List ]

The CPSIA has voted to make fabric and yarn exempt from testing and certification requirements for children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). However, because fasteners on children’s clothing, such as snaps, zippers, and buttons, will still need to be tested for lead, which means that the final garment as a whole is still required to be tested under the act.

The CPSIA released a statement about this decision, saying, “After reviewing and verifying this test data, the staff was able to determine that most textile products are manufactured using processes that do not introduce lead or result in an end product that would exceed the CPSIA’s lead limits.”

Some children’s handcrafters are excited about this ruling. Jennifer Cirka of etsy shop Jaybird Designs says she is happy to be able to make children’s products again, “as long as I don’t add zippers, buttons, snaps, and such.” Time will tell if this new ruling will really make a difference for manufacturers of children’s products.

[ For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade]

 [ This is the third in a series of posts by Susan Maphis covering the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade and sign up for her CPSIA Alerts Mailing List ]

Much information has been discussed in the media regarding the Consumer Safety Protection Improvement Act (CPSIA), set to go into effect on Feb. 10, that will regulate the amount of lead in children’s products. While the CPSIA focuses on the content of lead and phthalates in products, we haven’t discussed other ways to ensure products are as healthy as possible for children — for example, considering what types of chemicals may come off of products. Mandi Joyner of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) recently contacted me to give our readers an idea of how products can impact the health of children and our indoor air quality.

“GEI is an industry-independent, third-party organization that oversees the GREENGUARD Certification Program,” Joyner says. “This program certifies products for low-chemical emissions. The GREENGUARD Children and Schools Certification is the strictest chemical emission standard GREENGUARD offers. This standard requires products to be screened for more than 10,000 potential harmful chemicals and to meet the required California chronic exposure level including 13.5 parts per billion (ppb) formaldehyde.”

Chemicals emitted by products affect everyone, especially children. GEI notes that children are more vulnerable to indoor air than adults. Their physiological systems are still developing, and they breathe at a faster rate than adults, taking in more air relative to their body weight. As children spend 85% of their time indoors, they could face health problems due to indoor air pollution. GEI reports that pollution indoors is usually 2 to 5 times higher than it is outdoors.

An extension of the GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified program, the GREENGUARD Children & Schools standard incorporates some of the most stringent product emissions criteria. Products such as paints, flooring, furniture, window treatments, mattresses, cleaners, electronics, and products used in the classroom are tested and verified to meet the standard of strict emission levels of pollutants including VOCs, phthalates and respirable particles. Certified products carry the GREENGUARD Children and Schools Indoor Air Quality Certified mark, and they undergo periodic verification processes to remain certified. GREENGUARD Children and Schools certification provides assurance, from an independent third party, that products have been tested to identify potentially harmful chemical emissions, and that the levels are within allowable limits selected by GREENGUARD from existing recognized third party standards and guidelines.

The GREENGUARD Certification Program is a voluntary program for manufacturers. While there are fees associated with the certification (a non-refundable $3,000 application fee), manufacturers are willing to pay the costs to ensure products are as healthy as possible for the indoor environments.

For more information on GREENGUARD testing, go to  Greenguard.org.

[ For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade]