Yet more on the CPSIA and childrens' books

Publishers Weekly's latest article about the CPSIA might be the best treatment relative to books that I've seen. The key points are:

• For any "ordinary" book intended primarily for children printed after 1985, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued an exemption.
• Legislation has been introduced to extend the exemption to all ink-on-paper and ink-on-board books.
• The publishing industry has been given an extension until February 10, 2010 to have its testing program in place.
• Testing already exists for many books. Although the vast majority of books test negative for banned substances, a few have tested positive. "Green" materials with recycled paper are more likely to test positive than books that don't use recycled paper.
• Although many titles are being tested already, the CPSC is still trying to determine the testing protocols. PW indicates that although the rules require testing all component parts, it's unclear whether the assembled book will also need to be tested.

One author who testified in front of Congress said she thought, based on conversations with members of Congress and the CPSC that they don't want to allow changes to the rules.

We'll still have to wait and see.