Today, I just need to get up on my soapbox for a few minutes and express my opinion.
Over the weekend I learned that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is holding a discussion tomorrow on Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which establishes safety standards for durable infant or toddler products.
I’m all for safety standards for children’s products, however, this particular revision would attempt to solve a safety problem with another problem: it would require users of bassinets and cradles to use the mattress that comes with the bassinet or cradle. The problem with this is that these mattresses are generally made of toxic polyurethane foam with a waterproof vinyl cover that contains pthalates, currently one of the major chemicals of greatest concern.
If this regulation is approved, parents will no longer have the choice to replace the toxic mattress that comes with a bassinet or cradle with a safe, natural mattress, more suited to their personal preferences. This regulation not only would take away parents’ freedom of choice, but also would force them to expose their most vulnerable babies to a toxic product most hours of the day.
This is insane.
Also last week, I read an opinion piece published in the New York Times from a farmer who described how he could not grow fruits and vegetables on his land for local consumption because of a law.
…the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect. As a small organic vegetable producer in southern Minnesota, I know this because my efforts to expand production to meet regional demand have been severely hampered by the Agriculture Department’s commodity farm program. As I’ve looked into the politics behind those restrictions, I’ve come to understand that this is precisely the outcome that the program’s backers in California and Florida have in mind: they want to snuff out the local competition before it even gets started.
Again, insane.
Laws should be made that require citizens to take actions that support their individual health and sustain the environment that supports all of our lives collectively. If a law were to require parents to use a particular mattress, it should be made with organically-grown natural fibers and other nontoxic materials. If there were a law requiring farmers to grow particular foods, the number one requirement should be a variety of foods organically grown for local consumption first, and if there is any land left after that, it could be used for commodity crops to be shipped elsewhere.
We need the support of health and the environment to be the number one motivating factor in the making of laws and regulations.
In the past, I have always felt that I had a choice as a consumer–that I could choose the nontoxic or green product if it was available. These laws, and others, restrict our good choices. That directly works against our fundamental human right “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” (as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). We should all have the right by our very existence to choose to be alive and healthy, and not have manufacturers or government or anyone else force us to impair this birthright. The right to choose to be alive is a fundamental freedom. Today it is illegal to assist another in taking their own life when they have a terminal illness, yet it is perfectly legal to sell products that contribute to the creation of terminal illnesses, without warnings on product labels.
Right in my own backyard, I can’t even raise chickens for eggs because it’s against a city ordinance.
Our forefathers founded this country to be by the people and for the people. The intent was for us to have the freedom to create the country WE want to have. It’s time we use that power to make laws that work for us instead of against us.
