• Los Angeles Times, Washington Post , Tuesday, December 23, 2008 10:15 AM

New laws enacted to ensure the safety of children's toys and clothing could put smaller manufacturers out of business because of the costs involved. Ironically, many of the businesses affected by the law were created to make better, safer toys than those available at chain retailers such as Wal-Mart, says Dan Marshall, who owns a toy store in St. Paul, Minn., and founded the Handmade Toy Alliance.

The testing is required under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which was passed in response to last year's massive recalls of toys containing lead and other dangerous substances.

Nick Christensen, owner of Little Sapling Toys in Eureka, Calif., who makes everything by hand, says the only things his products contain are wood and beeswax, and he's bitter about being forced to test them for lead. Other manufacturers say they've been quoted testing prices of $24,000 for a telescope, $1,100 for a wooden wagon and $400 for cloth diapers, according to the toy alliance.

The Washington Post reports that Selecta, a German toymake rthat carves whimsical cars and characters from native woods, colors them with vegetable dyes and coats them in silky beeswax, is pulling out of the U.S. market because of the law.

"Manufacturers say the law will have unintended consequences: halting the sale of kids' bicycles, requiring clothing makers to discard millions of dollars in inventory, and banning products that pose little or no safety threat," write Lyndsey Layton and Annys Shin. "There's no unfettered right to sell your products if you can't prove they're safe," responds Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America .

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