Thank God we shouldn't be finding lead in our computers anytime soon, unless someone is dense enough to buy some sort of lead case.

i doubt many books contain lead :P
There's a lot more items than just painted toys covered by this. Clothes are even included.

It's usually the garbage we import on a large scale from China since they have such lax standards and only care about making money.

Yeah, which ironically is not being blocked for sale :P

I don't like that country very much at all myself.

People seem to be afraid that they're going to take over the world someday. I'm pretty convinced they're all going to kill themselves with their absurd practises.

If an asian country has to rule the world, let it be Japan. Then maybe we'll get rid of the weaboos =3

They'll never be able to enforce that. I mean millions and millions of used children's toys are sold every day on ebay and craigslist and at grage sales and flea markets all across the country.

they can't enforce internet piracy laws either, has that stopped them? Laws in general are not enacted to be enforced in this day and age, mainly because people are to stupid in the laws they try to enact. Instead they are used as deterrents to stop most people from doing something. In this case it is a good thing as it is a public health issue, in the case of internet piracy, I find it rather absurd. Then again, I believe in the absolute free flow of knowledge and information and that everything that isn't a national security risk should be made free to anyone. And yes, that includes music, games, books, or any other product made by human hands. Personally the concept of money annoys and confuses me.

If people say we need it, I counter by saying we need it, only because we say we need it. if we weren't so anal about placing value and compensation for things everyone could get along fine. I suppose it is a matter of the sacricty of resources and materials but then god help us when we start figuring out how star trek replicators work.

You can't compare internet piracy with the wrath of parents who will be forced to throw out all those toys instead of selling them.

Actually I wasn't even planning to. But in all my 25 years of living, do not remember my parents selling any of my old toys if anything we gave them to the good will. I do not see this as any kind of great economic hardship, of course that could be my own short coming, but as far as I can tell you'd get what 5-10 bucks for a used toy... it isn't going to make or brake anyone's bank.

Lead poisoning greatly overrated.

For a kid to really get lead poison he needs to scrap all the paint of at least a dozen toys and snort it.

The cases of children who died from lead poison were because they lived in old houses where decades of lead pain was peeling from the walls. Those unfortunate kids were practically breathing in fine dust with a high content of lead oxides for months. Some even ate the flakes of dry paint. And of course they died, because they were steadily consuming the poison for long periods of time.

But the media presents the case like casual handling of a toy pained with lead-based paint is going to instantly kill your child, creating mass hysteria.

I remember when I was 4-5 years old I didn't just have lead-painted toys... I had toys made of SOLID LEAD. They were those little soldiers for kids that are made of plastic nowadays. But back there there were made of lead! I played with them all the time, I touched them, chew on them, I even swallowed pieces of them. And here I am. Even more. The toys were hand made by my grandfather and I loved to watch him smelt the metal and pout it in the molds. So I didn't just play with the led soldiers... I breathed the vapors and fumes of the process.

When I grew up a little more and my interests started to change, I took care of the lead smelting myself and spent several hours a week experimenting with both lead and his equally feared relative mercury.

I remember once I swallowed a shot glass of pure mercury on a dare, just to refute a guy's theory that such action would leave me dead in a couple of seconds.

Poison or not, mercury is a liquid and very heavy metal, so its just rolls down your digestive system like a cannon ball and comes out your anus, leaving an interesting cold sensation all the way.

And here you have me, 40 years old and still chewing a piece of lead soldering once in a while.

I'm not saying lead and other metals are harmless. Those are very dangerous substances that can kill if they are carelessly used.

But it's not like they want us to believe, that a kid would literally explode just by walking close to a chair that had a coat of led paint in the sixties.

This law is flat-out _insanity_.

This crazed, baseless hysteria over protecting children from everything that could ever possibly pose a threat to them, whether real or imaginary, has Got To Stop. Parents need to have it drilled into their skulls that risks are simply part of life, that accidents will happen no matter how much we prepare, and that perfect safety is an unattainable illusion. Children who are never allowed to risk are never able to grow. We learn from making mistakes and we develop ourselves by facing challenges. Frankly, if I ever had a kid, I'd let them do all manner of 'risky' activities (within reason) and watch them grow up to be a strong, confident human being. Dammit, when I was a kid I got dirty, ate food off the floor, played with bugs and never once wore a bike helmet. And my toys probably had lead in them, too. And yet I've survived this long, haven't I?

It doesn't need to stop. It needs to extend to adults and beyond. I can't count the number of years I've been exposed to toxic chemicals because I'm not sure just how many homes I've had that were near toxic waste hazards. I do know that 5 years of my life was spent near an Army toxic waste dump. It sat on county owned land, so by law it was okay to be where it was. The cancer risk in that area was calculated to be 4 times higher than anywhere else in that county. Testing by non-Army groups showed a couple chemicals that were illegal in the US. Play in that dirt, adult or child, and you're as good as dead. No growth for you.

Banning lead in homes is one thing. Banning people who live in homes which don't have lead from selling toys in a yard sale because a few people who live in homes with lead might sell them is absurd. I mean if you just do the math, and figure out what percentage of people will actually be caught selling said toys, and then calculate how many of those people actually live in homes which have lead, you're going to arrive at some pretty small numbers.

I mean where does it stop? Why not have a law which says that the state can take away your children for child endngerment if you ever get a speeding ticket?

(this reply is to Pikachu)

Your post made me think of something I'd been pondering the night before: When a large majority of a population engages in behavior considered criminal by their own laws, it does not mean they are criminals, it means they are not living in a free society anymore and that their laws have run amok.

Okay, see, that's not what I'm talking about. That's a case of there being a Real Danger. Whereas if old children's toys were really as dangerous as this law implies, there wouldn't be any children *left*. In fact, your story demonstrates part of the problem: when parents cry wolf over so many imagined dangers to their children, things that really ARE dangerous get ignored. Parents need to shut the hell up about, for instance, video games and rap music and metal detectors in school and shielding their kids from anything sexual. Then maybe they could turn their attention towards preventing bullying and teen pregnancy/STDs, and taking care of homeless and hungry children. And, naturally, toxic waste hazards.

Lead IS a dangerous hazard. The issue is that low dosages take time to cause problems. By the time they do show up in the adult's life, all kinds of other chemicals are also at fault. It's difficult to track and difficult to pin any one malady with any one toxin. Businesses and lobbyists will just have you ignore it because it is so difficult to track. "We know toxin A is dangerous, but there's nothing you can do about it *cough*withoutputtingyourbossoutofbusinessandthuslosingyourjob*cough*." It's just so much easier to talk about video game violence than to put the entire chemical industry out of business.

Yes, but still, there's a difference between taking steps to keep lead out of toys, or recalling toys that do have high levels of lead in them, as opposed to banning the resale of ALL toys because they MIGHT have lead in them. That's where it's going too far. We do not need laws protecting us from threats that only MIGHT exist. Zero tolerance laws appeal to those who want quick, simple solutions. However, such 'solutions' almost always do nothing to stop the actual problem; they exist because they sound good.

Zero tolerance laws keep corrupt inspectors under control, somewhat. We have a few too many inspectors looking the other way right now.

<squints> I'm not sure I see what you mean here.

The solution is simple. Stop having children.

O WAIT. Then where would these companies get their money from the parents they're so desperate to scam? The only reason this law is going on is because oodles of parents were smart enough not to (or unable to) pay $30 for a $3 piece of clothing from China.

So, wait. I can't buy old 80s GI Joe toys anymore?

It also occurs to me how much prices for old toys are going to SKYROCKET on eBay and places like that if this law were to become more widespread. Old Transformers cost obscene amounts as it is now; I can only imagine how much they'd be worth if suddenly they were illegal.

My dad was a chemical engineer in a battery factory and would probably be telling me right now that this law is ultimately bull. Solid lead cannot hurt you, at least in no more ways then how solid steel cannot hurt you. If you breath the metal vapors and it gets into your lungs or into your blood somehow then that's a whole different ball game.
This is why I think finding ways to support an embargo on Chinese imports is a good idea... We never had a problem with maintaining the "US seal of quality" until we started this outsourcing crap.

Same thing with plutonium. However, metal dust is much more prevalent than you might think, especially for such soft metals. So, even though you can safely hold a button of plutonium in your bare hands, you really should be wearing gloves and a respirator.

Every day, that plotline in The Ultimates where aliens are trying to eliminate free will with scare tactics and heath restrictions, chemicals in the water, constant threat to your child's life, etc, seems more and more believable.

If they ever suggest global microchipping of children, I'm putting on my tinfoil hat.

They're considering it for people with developmental problems, neurologicial conditions and/or criminal records.

I don't know why that business is complaining so much though. Yeah it's bad. But it's a major change in retail policy. Sometimes there are kinks. Greater good and all that (hopefully).

It just seems to me that the logical thing to do is just close up shop for a couple of months. Yes, obviously there will be less inventory for a while, but seriously, would you want to shop at a place that goes "Huh. Looks like it'll be a little rough for a while. I guess even though the community has a demand for us we should close shop."

This wouldn't happen if parents would teach their kids what's edible and what isn't. Or if they bought a lead test kit if they were that concerned. Then never bought from that company with lead paint again.

Buyer beware.

Meep! There goes my only reason for shopping at Goodwill and Savers...

Stupid. This makes me mad. Why do the bureaucrats have to invade our lives with new laws and restrictions. This is why I hate libdem politicians and groups like U.S. Consumer Protection & Safety Commission. What they have to control what we can buy and sell now? Is this still a free country?

Resale hurts big business since they cannot reap profits from resold items.

Is that why they are doing it? There's always an agenda.

Uuuuum... I can clearly see this -is not- about lead or poisoning. This looks like a very underhanded way to try and move the economy a bit.

Remember- as Americans we're supposed to break and replace our stuff all the time; lots of our stuff is even built to break after a short set of time. So how better to encourage cashflow into new objects than put up a law against old ones?

No I'm not some eco-freak or anything xD this just really jumped out at me.

The Salvation Army and other Thrift Stores are already suffering do to the economy, this is just going to make it even worse for them.

Now wait a minute, that report said all child's products, but WHY?!
I am a plushie collector and I admit that I have bought most of my plushies from the near by thrift store. I buy other toys and cool things because they are cool. Why does the government want to take away my and children's plushies? How far will they take this? Children have their own set of genre of videos does that mean that no thrift store will be able to carry cartoons? There are only two types of patrons to a thrift store: poor parents and collectors, and this shoots us both in the head. Why are we collectors being punished for the stupidities of parents not being responsible enough to check and clean their children's things? It would seem a million times easier to instate a parenting license, than to ruin the lives of current parents, collectors, and thrift store employees who are often at their last choice for jobs.

And what does the government expect for those parents and thrift store employees? Taking on more work to make up the difference? Not in this town: jobs are scarce and pay is shitty. Put them on welfare- what till they die?

Critical saturation has been reached in this town/city, and this state is on the border of an economic stand still, the LAST thing we need is one more trigger to send people into the streets!

it would have made sense to make the article a little less confusing by actually telling us which law this supposedly is. Then all this confusion they claim could be solved with a simple search of the USC, THOMAS, or even google

oh no this means trying to buy old transformers toys is gonna be a pain in the ass if they have to go through testing and stuff.