tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31558164.post1064219943763160846..comments2024-01-17T06:25:55.587-05:00Comments on The Old Coot: Book-banning, new American styleRM1(SS) (ret)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101367196599109034noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31558164.post-55541740827178400762009-08-07T12:00:28.895-04:002009-08-07T12:00:28.895-04:00My wife sent me a similar email. I have no doubt ...My wife sent me a similar email. I have no doubt that there are resellers who are throwing away pre-1985 books, but I'm not sure that's based on anything other than hysteria.<br /><br />The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-4040 does not mention books, or 1985.<br /><br />Yes, the Consumer Products Safety Commission has rule making jurisdiction, and the rule was that books made after 1985 are exempt from testing.<br /><br />I note that the CPSC web site has no regulatory guidance for books: http://www.cpsc.gov/cgi-bin/regs.aspx<br /><br />The web page offering guidance is not a legalistic page, but a plain-English summary of some typical items: http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/smbus/retailers.html The row for children's books says OK to sell if after 1985 but makes no mention of pre-1985 books, which implies that the first paragraph holds true.<br /><br />Finally, the article comes from Overlaywered (a very nice web site, BTW) in Feb 2009. In March 2009 Mr Olson posted some clarifications http://overlawyered.com/2009/03/cpsc-no-we-didnt-ask-libraries-to-pull-pre-1985-books/ saying that '...the commission has neither concluded that the books might be dangerous nor recommended that libraries take any action.' <br /><br />I, too love books. My wife and I have thousands of them and we are patrons of the local library system as well as thrift shops. We've been telling everyone we know to wait for specific rule making on those older books, and to sell them in good faith. <br /><br />There's just too much fear of the government these days, and while it is definitely true that we live in a regulatory crazy world, we ought not panic at every story that crosses the news wires. After all, the news people are in business to say shocking things; not necessarily to enlighten us about the actual facts.<br /><br />Bravo Zulu for an excellent blog and thanks for sticking up for books!Buckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17834360422359513050noreply@blogger.com