Thursday, March 26, 2009

One Size Fits All

One size fits all is not and will never be a true statement. When it comes to clothing the buyer knows this and can opt out of the transaction if they want, but what happens when you have no choice. What do you do if you are caught up by some well meaning law that just happens to be one size fits all?

The US government passed a lead protection bill to protect children from lead. This was a great idea after the problems that arose in 2007 with lead in children’s toys, but something has happened that was not foreseen. All sorts of businesses have found themselves caught by a law that should never have affected them.

Small mom and pop toy makers that make and sell hand crafted toys will have to pay to have each toy checked for lead, a move that will put most of them out of business. Libraries may have to test and get read of children’s books with lead in them, a move they can’t afford. The makers of and the dealers of motorcycles and snowmobiles designed for children can’t sell, repair, or supply parts for their products because they have lead in the paint and engine parts.

This truly a case of a one size fits all law that though well meaning has or will hurt people it should be protecting, and that is the children. By protecting them from a real problem the law could easily deprive them of things that would never hurt them. No child is going to lick or mouth a motorcycle, library book, or the zipper on their clothing that may or may not have lead in its compounds.