What if your son or daughter wandered into the local library to find one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic children's books, but couldn't find it? What if instead, he or she found row after row of empty library shelves?
Sounds crazy? Maybe not.
According to a notice posted at the Issues & Advocacy section of the American Libray Association's (ALA) website, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will not reach a decision on whether to exempt libraries from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)--which requires manadatory lead testing on all products targeted for children ages 12 and under--until next week. While being advised not to take any action at this time, American libraries could be forced to remove all children's books targeted for ages 12 and under from their shelves if the law remains unchanged.
The ALA is seeking library advocates to contact the CPSC to let them know how important this issue is to American libraries, and I must add, to our children.
Please see this notice at the ALA website for information on how you can help.
3 comments:
Well I'm glad they're doing it. Of course, we all read books when we were little...did we get lead poisoning? Are the times different? Would there be more lead poisoning in things today than there was say 50 years ago? Still, I think this is a good idea either way. Unless I'm not seeing the whole picture, but I say it's about damn time. ;o)
The thought behind it is a good thing. But is libraries clearing their shelves of books for children 12 and under helpful to this already struggling economy?
Is it a good idea for small publishers to go out of business because of the additional expense? And it's not only the publishing industry, it's other small businesses whose target market is children in this age group.
Don't we need to stimulate growth right now, not strangle it?
These people must go under the assumption that parents should not monitor their children and keep them from eating books. I can't see how touching books can give a child lead poisoning.
And is there any proof that they're harmful anyway? Have pencils been removed from all homes? Wouldn't they be even more harmful?
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
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