Small toymakers pay for big toymakers' sins

Frustrating story in the NYT today about how small toymakers are being crushed by new federal safety regulations imposed in the wake of poisonous toys from China. Excerpt:

For 35 years, William John Woods has made wooden toys for children. Each one of the 2,000 or so he makes each year passes through his hands at his shop in Ogunquit, Maine, and no child, he said, has ever been hurt by one of his small boats, cars, helicopters or rattles.

But now he and others like him -- makers of small toys and owners of toy resale shops and boutique stores -- say their livelihood is being threatened by federal legislation enacted in the last year to protect children from toxic toys through more extensive testing. Big toymakers, including those whose tainted imports from China led to the recall of 45 million toys and spurred Congress to take action, have more resources and are able to comply with the new law's requirements.

"This is absurd," said Mr. Woods, whose toys are made of maple, walnut and cherry and finished with walnut oil and beeswax from a local apiary. He estimates it would cost him $30,000 -- a figure he calculated from having to pay $400 in required tests for each of the 80 or so different items he produces -- to show that they are not toxic.

"I use beeswax," Mr. Woods said. "The law was targeted at large toymakers using lead. There was no exclusion for benign products."

These homegrown toymakers are banding together to portray themselves as victims of bureaucrats and consumer advocates, and have started letter-writing campaigns to Congress.

Visit the website of the Handmade Toy Alliance to learn what you can do to help. You can't really blame the government for trying to do something to protect the public from the dangers of lead paint-coated toys from China. But this is a classic example of small producers who do things right having to pay for the sins of the megaproducers who only care about cheapness. Small farmers and food artisans suffer from the same bureaucratic, one-size-fits-all mentality, in which trying to address serious health problems caused by mass production has a potentially catastrophic effect on small producers who aren't causing problems in the first place.

Why not offer an exemption for small domestic manufacturers like William John Woods? Require them to put a sticker or something on their toys warning consumers that these products have not been tested under the government regulations, and then let consumers decide if they want to take their chances with these products. Maybe you have a better idea. Let's hear it.