There is some buzz about the publishing industry and you can follow postings all over the web. This is from Publisher's Weekly which is an industry standard that most publishers follow.
Now, the big boys are stepping in on this ill-written, poorly thought out Act. For those of you who haven't been following what is going on, the buzz is about the Consumer Product Safety Information Act of 2008. This Act was signed in August by President Bush and was enacted by the Commmittee of Energy and Commerce and passed in both the Senate and House of Representatives in July of 2008. The whole act was meant to target "manufacturers" of products aimed at children ages 12 and under and came on the heels of having two serious recalls of toys that Mattel(R) sold that were manufactured in China and had lead contents and small parts unsafe for children. The lawmakers all meant to target the manufacturers of said products but by creating this ill-written, ambiguous and contradictory Act. The lawmakers have impacted the small business and "one of a kind individuals" in a major way. The testing required for any product (that is everything, clothing, toys, books, et cetera) geared towards the children of this age group is expensive and has to be done on every batch of any item produced. If you run a 50-item batch this month, you have to test it. If you run a 5000-item batch next month, you have to have it tested. The burden of proof is falling on the wrong people. Small businesses, second-hand stores, publishers (large and small) will have to pay the costs and in turn end up going out of business.
This is a serious matter so I appeal to all my readers to please check out all the postings on the following websites: Vivian's Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap, Holly Jahangiri's Do I Have to Spell It Out? site and Idea Girl's spot and please voice your opinions. Send those letters to the appropriate people. Post on your blogs. Make this a national effort to get the word out that the publishing industry and small businesses will soon be a thing of the past.
3 comments:
You are correct. We must get the word out and people acting. Letters to the people listed on my blog would help. Letters, calls, and emails to Senators and Congress members would help. The more cages we rattle, the better.
This should be posted on Verla Kay's board, Elysabeth, since there are so many people there. I was going to do it, but I wasn't sure what to put, since I've seen so many different articles.
Doesn't take a lot to confuse me.
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php?topic=33327.0
Fortunately, news is getting out about this. This link suggests writing to Bobby Rush.
Post a Comment