Fighting for AAUW Book Sales

AAUW Regulatory Affairs Manager Beth Scott testified before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

On Wednesday, July 20, I represented AAUW’s opposition to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s overly burdensome requirement for testing used children’s books. The CPSC held a hearing on what it should do in fiscal year 2013, which begins in October 2012. I urged the commission to revisit its lead safety standard and exempt children’s books from the unnecessary restrictions that hurt charitable booksellers, such as the AAUW branches nationwide that hold annual book sales.

In 2008, responding to stories about lead and other toxins in children’s toys, Congress adopted the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The CPSC interpreted the law to mean that children’s books are subject to the same testing standards as children’s toys, triggering a requirement that every children’s book published before 1986 and intended for readers age 12 and younger must be certified to be under lead limits by a CPSC-licensed lab. (Scientific testing has shown that ordinary books and their component materials contain levels of lead far below the law’s requirements.)

During my testimony, I explained that AAUW supports the rigorous enforcement of all laws that protect children from harm, but the CPSC overextended its authority when it imposed these restrictions. I told the commission that, for decades, many of AAUW’s 1,000 branches have sold millions of new and used books to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for college scholarships, civic grants, community outreach programs, and local education and library projects.

The CPSC’s testing process is both costly (one branch found that it would cost them $50 to test a book they would normally sell for $1) and time-consuming (book sellers would have to determine the publication date of all donated children’s books). Branches would either have to put in many more volunteer hours reviewing thousands of books for publication dates and target audiences or not accept or sell children’s books at all. Either decision hurts the community by eroding the branch’s ability to fund scholarships and grants, as well as to put books into the hands of children.

The CPSC was very appreciative of AAUW’s testimony. Indeed, Chair Inez Tenenbaum said that she sympathized with our concerns, as she’s donated to AAUW book sales before and knows that our branches collect and sell an enormous amount of books.

AAUW will continue to monitor this issue and press for reform from the CPSC and Congress. To learn more about this issue, check out our advisory for booksellers.