At what point will we all rise up and say we are SICK of the oppression of the CPSIA?
Today's offense is the discovery that an innovative educational products developer has begun to sell a chemistry kit that advertises that it is "chemical-free". A chemistry kit without chemicals - nice. It's like a rock kit without rocks (perhaps that's next). A quick scan of the Internet reveals many mentions of this kit, a clear response to the arch regime imposed by the CPSIA and its implementer, the CPSC. The reviews are derisive, of course. The linked article recalls cherished memories of playing with chemistry kits as a kid. It notes that these products are being heralded in museum exhibits now. The CPSIA has created INCENTIVES to make sure those days are in the past. It's the caveman era in Washington nowadays.
At our company, we continue to resist the urge to just give up in the face of the onslaught. We are educators and feel a higher calling than appeasing tyrannical bureaucrats. This law is an offense to our reason to exist.
An interesting sidelight to this chemistry kit controversy is that the manufacturer of the kit is incorrectly identified as Elenco, a neighbor of ours. In fact, the actual manufacturer is based in China. Yes, that's right - the Chinese who do create products are adjusting to our troglodyte society by downgrading their products to meet our new low (intelligence) standard. Is this an improvement we should cherish . . . or it is a harbinger of the predicted inevitable devastation ensured by this law? You know where I stand on that one.
Finally, I would note that I spoke about the pressure imposed on science education by the CPSIA in my first speech on the topic on November 6, 2008. Yes, almost three years ago now. . . . You can watch the portion of that speech relating to science kits below. It is unchanged - I spoke these words in NOVEMBER 2008. We have really moved forward since then, haven't we?
The CPSIA remains a total failure of our government to properly do its job. Sad but true. The Dems are hopeless but where are the Republicans? Hey, Republicans, when will help come?
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1 comment:
What's amazing to me is that when these scenarios are presented to the lawmakers who made these laws, it's not that they're shocked at the overreach; it's that they don't immediately go act to fix it. It's like their attitude is "wow, we did that?...uh, I mean, of course we did that, that was the whole idea..."
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