Fewer Toys for Christmas

Small toy manufacturers may go out of business thanks to the “Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008,” which Congress hastily passed in response to reports of lead paint in children’s toys produced in China. Its poorly-drafted provisions may require manufacturers to perform $4,000 worth of tests on each lot of toys shipped.

The law also mandates “$100,000 minimum fines for each violation,” even unintentional ones, and contains provisions that “may actually harm safety.”

The law is also a bonanza for trial lawyers and the state attorneys general who hire them, giving state AGs the ability to sue toy manufacturers for massive sums of money.