What is the CPSIA?

On Feb. 6, 2009, CPSC issued guidance on products that consistently are below the permissible levels of lead.  One of these was what they call “ordinary books.”  They defined an  “ordinary book” to be “one that is published on cardboard or paper printed by conventional methods and intended to be read. It excludes children’s books that have plastic, metal or electronic parts.”  They meant to exclude books that have play value, such as books with a toy attached that can be inserted into the page, or books that make electronic sounds when buttons are pushed.

The reason this definition is problematic is that many books without play value are bound using metal or plastic parts, including staples and spiral bindings.

CPSC’s determination on exemptions from third party lead testing (August 2009) affirmed that books that are made out of paper, paper products, and other exempt materials and whose adhesives are inaccessible, and were printed after 1985, are exempt from lead testing because they are unlikely to contain more than 100 ppm of lead.  However, CPSC did not exempt books that were published before 1985.  We await a future statement of policy from CPSC regarding books published before 1985.

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