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Sports blog: Stamford Sports Scene

By A.J. O'CONNELL

aoconnell@thestamfordtimes.com


STAMFORD -- Next month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission will begin enforcing a set of laws designed to protect consumers from potentially flawed products. The Consumer Protection and Safety Act (CPSIA), signed into law by President George W. Bush last August, is intended, in large part, to protect children from lead poisoning or other harmful substances.

But there are those who may not be protected by the law: crafters who hand make products for children.

"It may force me to close my doors, unfortunately," said Jill Chuckas, of CraftyBaby.com. Chuckas is a mother of three who sews children's clothes and baby accessories in a studio at her home in Springdale.

She has been sewing since the age of four. She began to make a business of her hobby in 1998, when she was pregnant with her first child, and decided that there were not enough unique items for babies on the market. She left her job as a social worker to sew full-time five years ago, when she was pregnant with her youngest child. Now that youngest child is four years old and Chuckas is selling her wares at the National Zoo, on her Web site, http://www.craftybaby.com and at 10 craft shows every year. Last year, she sold 800 of her most popular item, the "Nap-pack," a fleece sleeping bag for children who have scheduled nap times at school. Her company, she says, supplements her family's income.

Chuckas fears that she would begin losing money if the CPSIA is not modified.

She pointed to a clause in the act that requires that a sample from each batch of products for children be tested in a certified, third party testing facility. For a manufacturer like Hasbro, a batch of toys could be in the thousands. For Chuckas, who sews each product by hand, a batch is more likely to consist of 10 products.

Testing fees, she added, range between $400 and $1,000 for each batch of toys tested.

"The reality is that my products are lead and phalate-free already," she said.

She and other handcrafters are uniting this month, protesting that the law applies the same rules and sanctions to handcrafters that it does to large corporations.

Etsy.com, an online marketplace which sells only handmade products, posted a "call to action" on its blog on Dec. 31, asking crafters to spread the word about the CPSIA effects on small businesses and artisans. The Handmade Toy Alliance, a group of toymakers, toy shops and artisans, recently wrote an open letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, asking that the the law be implemented in a way which will not hurt small crafters. The site, which has been posting regular updates, has been in contact with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and will be participating in an upcoming call for comments on the law.

Recently Chuckas joined the Handmade Toy Alliance.

The crafters are asking for two concessions from the government: exemption for natural products and adoption of component testing, which would allow artisans to use certifications from their materials suppliers instead of paying for tests of each product.

"With those two things many of us can stay in business," said Chuckas.

The Handmade Toy Alliance is hoping that as the government works to implement the law, those concessions will be made.

"We fully support all government efforts to safeguard consumers and reduce their exposure to lead and other materials that could affect their health and safety," stated Chuckas. "We also acknowledge that our membership, and thousands of other similar small businesses throughout the country, have been setting and adhering to high safety standards in children's products for many years."

Melissa Bernstein of Wilton-based toy-maker Melissa & Doug did not return calls.

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