J o e y & A l e e t h e a: CPSIA Exemptions: CPSC Panel Exempts Some Products

1/15/09: Please see update at the end of this post.

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I Tweeted this CPSIA news on Wednesday night and wanted to be sure you've seen it too:

Bloomberg reported that the CPSC "Panel Exempts Some Products From U.S. Lead Rules".
You can read the CPSIA article on Bloomberg's website here.

What did the CPSC specifically exempt?

"The CPSC exempted wool, cotton, silk, gemstones and pearls in its proposal today. "

Cotton = Fabric.

Woohoo!

But wait...before I get all kookily excited about this...tell me...what's your first reaction to that information?

Are you skeptical?

If you've been keeping up with the whole CPSIA fiasco, you're most likely skeptical. You've become little Miss Negative Nelly. And understandably so. Because over the course of the past month or two, there hasn't been much good news regarding the CPSIA. On the contrary, it's been pretty darn bad...whoa has it been bad. And if there was any tiny glimmer or word of good news...it was usually then clarified and followed-up with exceptions...and bad news. It's been an interesting roller-coaster, yes?

So you've learned to take any good news about the CPSIA with a grain of salt.

Well, I think now I can say that I finally see the some light at the end of this tunnel.

Why? Because the news about these exemptions came from Bloomberg. And I'm not a Financial Analyst or anything, I simply worked in the Financial Sector in NYC for seven years, so I'm familiar with them.

Personally, I've never known Bloomberg to not be accurate about their reporting.

In the event you're not familiar with Bloomberg, they are a "real-time financial information network" which pretty much means that I've known them to be a go-to source for the public and private sector, financial companies and investors alike.

For example, here are Bloomberg's current Consumer Market headlines from the Industries section of their website:

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Macy's May Speed Downward Spiral by Writing Down $3 Billion in Goodwill Macy’s Inc. investors are waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it isn’t a Manolo Blahnik.

Best Buy December Sales Drop 6.5% as Discounts Fail to Attract Shoppers Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics chain, said December sales dropped after holiday discounts failed to draw shoppers.

Coach Shares Drop After Profit, Sales Miss Estimates as Consumers Retrench Coach Inc., the largest U.S. maker of luxury leather handbags, fell 8.8 percent in early U.S. trading after saying profit and sales dropped because of “depressed” store traffic and discounting by rivals.

Circuit City Seeks Bankruptcy Court Permission to Hold Auction Next Week Circuit City Stores Inc., the bankrupt consumer-electronics retailer, said it’s in talks with two potential bidders and wants to hold an auction next week to sell the company.

German Retail Sales Rise More Than Economists Expected as Oil Prices Drop Retail sales in Germany, the euro area’s largest economy, rose more than economists expected in November as lower oil prices and slowing inflation helped consumer confidence.

Obama Era Gives Consumer Activists Chance to `Play Offense' on Legislation Consumer advocates say the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and a new Congress may be their best chance in years to pursue reforms from credit cards to health care.

European Retail Sales Decline for a Sixth Month as Confidence Collapses European retail sales declined for a sixth month in November as consumer confidence collapsed.

Nestle Is Cut at JPMorgan on Risk to Sales Goal From Worldwide Recession Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, was cut to “underweight” by JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Pablo Zuanic, who said he expects the maker of Nespresso coffee to miss this year’s sales target as economies slow.

Japan's Asahi Sees Rising Beer Sales This Year in Face of `Severe Market' Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan’s top- selling beermaker, said sales by volume of beer and beer-like beverages will probably increase 0.8 percent this year.

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And of course..."Even though these exemptions have been announced, the CPSC is open to more comments. The deadline is now January 30th. Visit www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML for more info."

So today's Friday. What will you do today, and this weekend?

Will you worry about the CPSIA? Or will you consider possibly having some FUN??

I know what I'm gonna do.

Have an awesome weekend!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

UPDATE: "The exemptions are for unprocessed goods only. Iow, if it's painted, dyed, screenprinted, embroidered, appliqued...forget it. No exemption." from commenter Kathleen Fasanella, founder of Fashion Incubator and National Bankruptcy Day.

Please see more comments to this post. Thank you to each of you who continually help clarify the CPSIA, and to everyone who keeps up the fight to save children's items!!