one step forward, two steps back...

[thanate]

The storage unit is 2/3 cleared out, and most of the other stuff will be staying here in my parents' house for a little while longer (until the upstairs in Linthicum is carpeted) and so it just has to be moved a short distance. And my father found us 4 metal shelving units for free, from an estate clean-out. My shoulders are much less sore, and I've done, well, some things useful, although my motivation for the week is trying to coast to a stop, and there's a lot still to do. We shall see.

HOWEVER, according to the Post they're still talking about banning used children's books. Not all of them, but everything indiscriminately that was published pre-1985, due to the possibility of lead inks. And while I can reluctantly admit that they might almost have a point on the picture books, it's going to be murder on children's library collections, and... this is me being elitist or something, but I cannot make myself have any sympathy for parents who allow their toddlers to chew on mid-grade books. That's part of baby-proofing... if you can't teach the kid that "grown-up" books are off-limits or to be treated gently, then you make sure the kid can't get to them, same as you would your good porcelain or your medicine cabinet. You notice they're not threatening to ban adult books...

And, well, more to the point in my case, there are children's books I want for my personal collection, whether I ever have a chance to share them with a child or not, that haven't been re-published within my lifetime. And books of folklore that my mother collects for storytelling purposes that are filed under juvenile nonfiction, and that woman on Craftster who collects 1910s children's series, and all the third graders in the world who wouldn't even think of putting books in their mouths... and we're looking at these books all being thrown away because some of them have poisonous-to-ingest ink.

I'd feel slightly better about it if I knew where I could write that would actually help complain about this. I can try my congresspeople again, but my impression is that it's out of their hands at this point, and the CPSIA website is just as unhelpful as it has always been. (If anyone has other suggestions, do please let me know.) I am half-tempted to go to the rally on wednesday, except that grauwulf and I were planning to go and get our permission slip marriage license that day.

Comments

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

". . .I cannot make myself have any sympathy for parents who allow their toddlers to chew on mid-grade books."

Just TRY to keep a toddler from chewing on anything and everything. Go ahead - I'll wait ;-)

It's in their mouth before you can do a darned thing about it. Heck, my sibs and I chewed on the corners of all of our books until we were somewhere in grade school. It didn't matter how many times the parentals told us to stop it - we still did it. The truth is you really CAN'T watch them every second of every day or you will go mad.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

But did you eat the inked parts of the pages? Are you concerned that your daughter is going to get lead poisoning because of chewing on her nursery rhyme books, or things you get out of the library? It's just not on the scale of importing new toy trains with lead paint on them.

Seriously, though, you put your antique Oz books and your copies of your favorite children's stories for 10-year-olds on the upper shelves in the room where the door stays closed. If you're worried about your kid getting poisoned by books she's too young to appreciate, then how can you justify having your books from an era where the ink has trace amounts of lead in it? And... we're also getting into the territory of saving a few kids from eating books with lead inks at the expense of everyone having better access to more reading material. The latter may not be a strictly medical problem, but lack of enrichment including books will assuredly make many people's lives poorer, and their brains less well-developed.

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

Inked parts of books? Usually not. That would be a waste of perfectly good graphics and reading material :-) You're right that whether she eats the books or not is just not very important (well, I'll pull the libary books away before she can munch on them, so that some other child can enjoy it. Her books - hey, if she wants that for lunch instead of strained peas, sometimes it isn't worth the fight).

The Powers that Be are picking the wrong fight. The RIGHT fight is lead in new items from overseas - toys, furniture, baby formula. Older items, such as books and clothing, haven't been a threat up until now. I doubt that removing them from circulation will do as much good as the PTBs think.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

My impression has been that they're looking more to say "oh look, we did something to solve this problem that everyone was so upset about!" and are spending most of their time picking on things that don't have the lawsuit and lobby backing of the big corporations that caused/allowed the problems in the first place. :/