One of the things I hate about the internet is that even when you’re trying to do something harmless, like buy a dresser on Craigslist, you can’t avoid the crazies. My local kids & baby section is full of these posts claiming that after February 10th, no one is allowed to resell baby items that haven’t been tested for lead. My BS flag immediately went up for several reasons – not the least of which being even if that is a law, who the hell’s going to enforce it? So I Googled a few words from the post and came up with several more sites full of outraged mothers screaming about how their friend who makes recycled organic cloth diapers is being put out of business due to the Big Bad Government’s regulations. After three pages of OMG!!!!!!!!!’s I found an actual link clarifying the proposed regulation: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

From what I can tell, since I am not a lawyer and the actual text of the law is too complicated for me to understand, this law is meant to prevent lead and other contaminates in children’s products (how is that a bad thing?) and not keep anyone from buying a used Exersaucer on Ebay. The only effect it could have on a reseller is that they might have to check the Consumer Product Safety website for recalls before they post something for sale. Knowingly selling an item that contains contaminates would be illegal. And it also only applies to items that might contain lead, like cribs and toys and painted stuff – not those hemp diapers your friend sales at the Church tag sale. So chill out.

If anyone with a better understanding of the law wants to school me, feel free. I’m just hoping someone trying to Google this stuff comes across my link before one of the other sites sends them into a conniption fit.