angiEmedia

A Tennessee child custody case involving a little girl named Kate Hopkins and her father Jeremy Hopkins is developing into a test of the 14th Amendment equal protection by the law. If the 14th Amendment is found to apply to child custody rights as it appears it should, then it follows that the apparent and widespread bias of the US courts against fathers is unconstitutional. Therefore this case could affect child custody decisions across the entire United States.

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What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a widely used sweetener in the United States. As corn prices plummeted in the 1970s, HFCS was developed to make use of the corn crop in other products. It’s used in an increasingly wide variety of products in the last three decades, from soft drinks to baked goods. It is often one of the largest ingredients in sweet products, frequently taking the first to third place on the food products ingredients labels mandated in the United States.

You might think that such a widely used product with a 30+ year track record would be safe. The HFCS manufacturers in the United States have been running a campaign to convince the public that’s the case. You can take a look at the web-based portion of this campaign at HFCSfacts.com: You’re in for a Sweet Surprise.

HFCS May Be Implicated in the US Obesity and Diabetes Epidemics

The reality is that HFCS has for years been suspected to be involved in the epidemic rise of obesity and diabetes in the United States. Numerous studies have found indications that the increasing use of HFCS may correlate with the increase in obesity and diabetes over a similar period of time. Unsurprisingly, HFCS manufacturers refute this, claiming that there is no credible scientific evidence to support such conclusions.

HFCS is Often Contaminated with Mercury

However, much more alarming news about HFCS has been announced this month. Recent studies of samples of HFCS and food products containing it in the United States conducted via two studies found that between 31% and 45% of the samples contained mercury. Mercury is toxic in even small quantities. For years, there have been suspicions that mercury used in vaccines may be related to the rise in autism in the United States. But this mercury contamination issue is much bigger and affects common foods widespread throughout the nation’s food supply. Products tested from big-name manufacturers such as Minute Maid, Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Quaker, Hunt’s, Manwich, Smucker’s, Kraft, Nutri-Grain, and Yoplait had detectable levels of mercury.

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(Click here for more coverage of CPSIA.)

The February 10, 2009, start of enforcement of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 is just two weeks away, yet the US federal government is still irresponsibly failing to correct the interpretations of the law to avoid shutting down access children’s books in libraries and even school text books.

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Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment trial starts next week. But the Governor plans to boycott it. It’s not fair to criticize him. He’s above it all. He can sell a Senate seat if he wants to! Rules don’t apply to him. He makes the rules!

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In America, we’re used to growing government stupidity and arrogance. CPSIA has been looking more insane by the day. US mental health policies are causing destruction of families by making it virtually impossible for people with destructive mental illnesses such as Borderline Personality Disorder to be forced into treatment or their families to be legally protected against the harm that they cause. US family law courts reward perjury and routinely destroy children’s lives.

But who would have thought the US government would be intent on ensuring “equal opportunity death by mad cow disease” for all of us who dare to eat made-in-America beef?

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(Click here for more coverage of CPSIA.)

The February 10, 2009, start of enforcement of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 continues to draw closer as the US federal government still has its head stuck in the sand regarding the mess the law is about to make.

On January 22, 2009, the book publishing industry met with the Consumer Products Safety Commission to give them evidence of 150 test results from finished children’s books to show that lead is not a reasonable concern for such items. But there is still no indication of what CPSC will do about the matter, if anything.

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(Click here for our complete coverage of CPSIA.)

With the days ticking away without meaningful clarification or reform of CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008), there’s not a lot of “real news” to report. So we thought we’d feed you some links to the thoughts of others on this dysfunctional legislation.

CPSC: Letter to Association of American Publishers on December 23, 2008

Consumer Reports: Toymakers and resellers raise concerns over new safety regulations

Wall Street Journal: Pelosi’s Toy Story

Mom-Based Garment Industry May Be Hardest Hit By New Safety Regs

(Click here for our complete coverage of CPSIA.)

The book publishing industry is joining the American Library Association in questioning the wisdom and intent of applying CPSIA lead and phthalate standards to children’s books. The American Association of Publishers (AAP) and Children’s Book Council (CBC) are among the groups starting to lobby the Senate and House to clarify and/or revise CPSIA to exempt conventionally printed hardcover and paperback books.

Many children’s books have already moved to soy-based organic inks. There is little or no evidence of lead or phthalates being a problem in older inks or in paper, cardboard, and glues used for printing most books. While the industry agrees that specialty books that have plastic and metal parts might warrant testing according to CPSIA limits, it strongly disagrees with the necessity of such testing for conventional books books printed on paper and cardboard.

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(Click here for our complete coverage of CPSIA.)

Our previous posts on the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) have brought up the legal and financial risks faced by resellers of used and new children’s clothing, toys, and other products. These appear to extend to private sellers on eBay and Craigslist as well as to consignment stores and charity/resale organizations such as Goodwill Industries. We’ve also mentioned problem faced by libraries and home business and small business children’s product manufacturers for which testing costs may be prohibitive. They may be forced to stop loaning out existing children’s books already in their collections for years and selling safe products simply because of the risks and costs of this law.

As we continue to review information and discussion about CPSIA and the text of the law itself, it’s clear there is a lot of confusion about this law. The American Library Association admits after getting everybody alarmed that it doesn’t understand the law and how it will impact libraries in its post Children’s Books and the CPSIA – STANDBY – Situation Fluid.

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(Click here for our complete coverage of CPSIA.)

Unless the US government acts soon, on February 10, 2009, life as we know it in the United States may become extremely bizarre. Imagine a nation in which it is illegal for:

• Children age 12 and under to enter libraries or attend schools or daycare facilities unless those schools and daycare facilities have no books or toys.

• Books and toys for children age 12 and under can only be sold by mass-merchants because home and small businesses and manufacturers cannot afford the testing costs to verify paper, cardboard, glue, and other components do not have illegal levels of lead.

• Only major publishers running huge print-runs can print children’s books because only they can afford the testing costs.

• If you can find anybody willing to risk selling you a used children’s book, either they will be criminals or buying a used children’s book will cost upwards of $150 per title because each book will have to be individually tested for lead and phthalates.

• Tens of thousands of US home and small businesses which have made a major portion of their sales from children’s products go out of business and file for bankruptcy as their inventories go from having value to being worthless because they cannot be sold.

This is all due to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The new law requires that products intended for use by children ages 12 and under must meet new standards for lead and phthalate content or they cannot be sold starting February 10, 2009. The law does not have any grandfather provisions for products made prior to February 10, 2009. It apparently affects all products intended for use by children age 12 and under. And it is being interpreted as affecting operations that sell, lend, or allow the use of children’s products by children ages 12 and under.

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