Among other things, the new legislation strengthens rules for lead content and phthalates (a chemical used in plastic) in children’s products, mandates third-party testing and provides more resources for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency that will implement the new requirements. Our suppliers took an active role in the legislative process by working with members of Congress and the retail and toy industries, all with the goal of strengthening the safety of children’s products in the United States.

Even before the legislation passed, we proactively strengthened and improved our product safety standards. For example, we instructed our suppliers that as of March 2008 that they had to meet standards that are even more stringent than the new legislation requires.

SqueakyDucks.com product safety practices include the following:

• 100% of children’s products are tested before they are shipped to us. We do not authorize shipment of products unless they meet both our requirements and federal safety requirements.
• Our products are tested by one of the world’s largest independent consumer product testing laboratories.
• Products are tested to standards established by the CPSC, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and other state and federal agencies as applicable.

SqueakyDucks.com will continue to set a high bar for our product safety standards. You can be confident that we are focused on the safety of our products and on doing all we can to ensure the safety of children. As enhancements to our product safety standards are made, we will post them on our website. If you have comments or questions, please send us an e-mail at sque...@squeakyducks.com