The New Book Banning = Children’s books burn, courtesy of the federal government.

[L. Coyote]

Walter Olson
The New Book Banning
Children’s books burn, courtesy of the federal government.
12 February 2009 - http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon0212wo.html

It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. .....

.............

[omega minimo]

1. 1985, right after "1984"

:yoiks: :scared:

[Why Syzygy]

2. I wonder over and over

exactly who the hell were they going after with this freak law? What will that do to the toy collector's market? It's already raped Goodwill. Preposterous. Obama needs to look into this.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. To be fair, that's not exactly the same thing.

Although I think the priority should be making sure the NEW toys are safe, first. Now that we actually have someone other than crazy Jesus freaks running our product safety departments.

[pnwmom]

9. What's not the same thing? This law might close children's departments

in libraries and used bookstores across the country.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. Leaving aside the legitimacy of the concern, "book banning" pertaining to intellectual content

is different than saying "there might be lead in the binding of these books, and we don't want toddlers to eat them"

Does the harm done in addressing this outweigh the danger? Entirely possible. Fine, okay, so make the case.

But the thread tries to pretend this is a First Amendment issue, when I don't think it is.

[havocmom]

13. So say nothing of SCHOOLS! Last I heard, they have books there too

;)

The enforcement of this one has been delayed one year to sort out the ramifications and probably hone the language down to a more precise law.

[Earth_First]

4. Define "children"

Are we talking middle and high-school libraries?

Will the "controversial" books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple finally be banned by default through this law?

[pnwmom]

10. Yes. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Here's another unintended consequence of this law...

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=9869907

New regulations have motorcycle lovers running in the red
by Maria Downey
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It was a well intended plan: Get products with lead out of the hands of children.

But the unintended effects of the new Consumer Product Safety Commission ruling are far-reaching, which is why you won't find youth motorcycles or ATVs in local store rooms, and why you won't be able to repair the products you already have.

The Motorcycle Shop and shops across Alaska are feeling the fallout of the latest CPSC ruling dealing with lead contact in all children's products.

That's why you'll only see youth models on display. The manufacturers called for all their products for 12 years old and younger to be off limits.

"They've taken those models off the market," said Keith Hull, general manager of The Motorcycle Shop. "They're not allowing us to sell them. They're no longer shipping them."

It's because the makers of children's motorcycles and ATVs are still sorting out what the new ruling means, hoping for an exemption on internal parts -- wiring and soldering that might contain lead.

"We usually don't see people chewing on motorcycle parts, especially if they're wearing a helmet like they should," Hull said.

<snip>

There's more fallout in the repair and parts departments. Even if you already have a youth model -- 100 CCs or under -- you can't get them repaired since the purchase of parts is now off limits, even if they clearly don't contain lead.

"Say the handle bars, you also can't replace those and they are completely irrelevant to any lead content," said Zack Johnson, parts manager. "But because of the way it's set up you still can't provide replacement parts for them."

<snip>

While the CPSC did give manufacturers a year extension on the required third-party lead testing, the law still requires them not to sell any products that would violate the lead standard, even if the ingestion of lead is unlikely, like in an internal part.

There are a number of adults who prefer the smaller youth models, and they still can't buy them or repair them even if it's for an adult.

[Wilber_Stool]

6. And there's people that want to

rewrite the Constitution. Politicians couldn't write a good shopping list.

[noonwitch]

7. I love older editions of children's book

Especially the Junior Illustrated Classics-I forgot the actual name of the editions, but it was something like that. They had great artwork in them. I have a 70s edition of Arabian Nights, and my sister found a 60s version of Hans Brinker for her kids.

I also have my mom's Heidi, from the 40s, and a very old copy of Misty of Chincotegue, but I collect antique books in general, not just kids' books.

[pnwmom]

8. RECOMMENDED! This is a HUGE problem for libraries and used book stores.

They're taking it very, very seriously -- and need our help lobbying to exempt them from this law.

"A further question is what to do about public libraries, which daily expose children under 12 to pre-1985 editions of Anne of Green Gables, Beatrix Potter, Baden-Powell’s scouting guides, and other deadly hazards. The blogger Design Loft carefully examines some of the costs of CPSIA-proofing pre-1985 library holdings; they are, not surprisingly, utterly prohibitive. The American Library Association spent months warning about the law’s implications, but its concerns fell on deaf ears in Congress (which, in this week’s stimulus bill, refused to consider an amendment by Republican senator Jim DeMint to reform CPSIA). The ALA now apparently intends to take the position that the law does not apply to libraries unless it hears otherwise. One can hardly blame it for this stance, but it’s far from clear that it will prevail. For one thing, the law bans the “distribution” of forbidden items, whether or not for profit. In addition, most libraries regularly raise money through book sales, and will now need to consider excluding older children’s titles from those sales. One CPSC commissioner, Thomas Moore, has already called for libraries to “sequester” some undefinedly large fraction of pre-1985 books until more is known about their risks."

[havocmom]

14. Enactiment/enforcement delayed for a year to sort out the badly written law

But I wonder just how much some publishers contributed to political campaigns.

[chaplainM]

12. I hope this doesn't mean the Junior will have to give up his copy of

"Mercury-based Home Publishing for Youngsters."

[havocmom]

15. Owing to the flood of calls from Librarians and those they motivated, year delay on this one

Enforcement delayed for a year to sort the badly done law out and address the real issues, which isn't so much books for kids, as toys with the books.

[pnwmom]

16. Thanks for the update, havocmom. n/t