The Consumer Product Safety Commission in the USA has voted an end to testing for lead and subsequent certification for products destined for children.

In the coming days, this legislation will take effect and will concern fibres and fabrics. Buttons, zippers and other plastics which can injure or be eaten by children will continue to be monitored by the commission.

This modification of procedure comes following a long contest led by the American textile and clothing industries that saw the tests as a pointless constraint. After multiple tests, the commission has finally agreed as all products that were tested are no longer made with lead nowadays.

Changing the system in this manner has come about despite even tighter legislation on the use of lead in clothing. The limit has been cut by half to 300ppm (parts per million) for children under the age of 12 and should come down to 100ppm in August 2011.

By Jonathan Fulwell (Source: Matthieu Guinebault)