The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) held a public workshop on April 3rd to discuss and hear suggestions from the general public regarding pathways that can be taken to reduce the burden of testing as required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). CPSC staff conducted two panel discussions - one that focused on the phthalate testing requirements and the other on lead and the 8 elements found in the ASTM toy standard. Industry representatives urged the Commission staff to consider adopting exemptions to the phthalate testing requirements for materials that have never contained any of the six identified phthalates. Information was presented to the staff indicating that there are materials, such as certain rigid plastic substrates that have never contained phthalates however due to their use by the toy industry must be tested. Similar arguments were raised during industry presentations regarding reduction of testing burdens for lead content.
CPSC staff urged all to submit comments and materials supporting information presented. SGIA will be working to develop comments to support the reduction of testing for materials that do not contain any of the regulated compounds. For more information regarding this initiative, contact Marci Kinter at govtaffairs@sgia.org.