Anny Shin reports in today's Washington Post that the CPSC says that Some Toys With Banned Plastics Will Stay on Market. We don't think so. The story is based on a letter opinion to industry lawyers from Consumer Product Safety Commission general counsel Cheryl Falvey who says essentially that because consumer product safety standards have previously been interpreted to apply only to products manufactured after a ban date, that it's ok to keep selling inventory stocks of toys laden with toxic phthalates after the February 2009 ban on toxic phthalate chemicals kicks in. Funny thing is that Falvey's letter ignores and does not even discuss the bold-face underlined words in Section 108 of the new statute that says:

Beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture for sale, offer for sale, distribute in commerce, or import into the United States any children's toy or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), or benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP).