[Sca-librarians] Children's Books, a Lead danger?

[Anplica Fiore]

I work for a regional library system, and my director forwarded this
message to the entire region.

I emailed Nancy Nord, Interim Commissioner of the CPSC from their
website this morning, and encourage everyone to also call or email her
to let her know what we think of this policy!  They may just make an
exception to the law to cover libraries!
An


A public meeting was held January 22, and Cheryl Falvey, General
Counsel for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), stated that
a decision should be made by the first week of February regarding
libraries.  She advised libraries not to take any action at this time,
and we are hopeful that the Commission's decision will exempt
libraries.

Even with her assurances, we must let the CPSC know how important an
issue this is to libraries.  Please call the Acting Commissioner,
Nancy Nord, at (301) 504-7923. When you call this number, wait for the
automated directory to give you directions to reach Nancy Nord's
office. Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for
libraries to remove all children's books from the shelves and/or ban
children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of
service that is needed.

As always, thank you for all that you do.  The only way we will be
successful in ensuring that children will have access to safe books is
with a strong grassroots effort.  Your comments to the CPSC need to be
submitted as soon as possible, so please tell all your friends and
family – we need as many people as possible to communicate that this
oversight could have lasting ramifications on our children and our
communities.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has been
interpreted to include books as a product that must be tested for
lead.  While it is understandable that the CPSC must protect children
from toxic materials, publishers have already tested the book
components and found that the lead levels are lower than the
regulations require three years from now. Additionally, all book
recalls in the last two decades have been because of toys attached to
the books that posed a choking hazard, not the books themselves.


Making these testing regulations retroactive would require both school
and public libraries to take drastic steps to come into compliance.
They either would have to ban children from their libraries or pull
every book intended for children under the age of 12 from their
bookshelves at the time children are fostering a lifelong love of
learning and reading.


In order to allow children and families to continue accessing critical
library materials, please either exempt books from the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, accept the component tests
that have already been done, or exempt all books currently in school
and public libraries.  This will ensure that our children continue to
have access to safe and educational library materials.
Thank you for your continued support of libraries!



Sincerely,



Kristin Murphy

Government Relations Specialist

American Library Association - Washington Office

1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20009-2520

Phone Number: 202.628.8410

Fax: 202.628.8419

kmurphy at alawash.org


On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 12:08 PM, Judith Kirk <judith.a.kirk at wmich.edu> wrote:
> Every time I think I've seen everything stupid under the sun,
> something comes around to prove how wrong I am. Thank goodness ALA
> is on this one bigtime.--Siobhan
>
> *****************************
>
>
> New Law Could Keep Books Out Reach For Children
>
> JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A federal law that will soon go into effect
> could have some startling consequences, including the possible
> banning of children from libraries unless certain books are pulled
>
> from the shelves.
> Library Books
> Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act books for
> children
> will have to be tested for lead.
>
> The law is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and
> it
> is designed to protect children all over the country from the
> dangers
> of lead.
>
> Experts said there could be trace amounts of lead in books because
> of
> the ink. That's why the government wants all books, old and new,
> tested for lead.
>
> http://www.news4jax.com/news/18498895/detail.html#-
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Sca-librarians at lists.gallowglass.org
> http://lists.gallowglass.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-librarians
>



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THL Anpliça Fiore
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