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Selling an Easy-Bake oven at a garage sale is now a crime

No, I'm not kidding:

WASHINGTON — If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products.

The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer.

"Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The crackdown affects sellers ranging from major thrift-store operators such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army to everyday Americans cleaning out their attics for yard sales, church bazaars or — increasingly — digital hawking on eBay, Craigslist and other Web sites.

Secondhand sellers now must keep abreast of recalls for thousands of products, some of them stretching back more than a decade, to stay within the bounds of the law.


Two popular children's items that can now get you arrested for trying to sell them: the Easy Bake Oven and Polly Pockets dolls.

Nanny loves you, you ungrateful bastards, and don't you forget it.

Comments

Where, in the sole ling you backstopped your item with, does it say anything about arrests?
Delaware Watch said…
Good law, unless, of course, you like a "free market" that sells dangerous items for children.

Why don't you write a piece that allows people to sell plastic bags filled w/ broken glass for children and show some consistency? Because that's about what your position amounts to.
Anonymous said…
Was broken glass in a plastic bag ever a product that there was a demand for ??

I can make the arguement that skate boards, baseball, sleds, and flying a kite are dangerous.

Delaware Watch would make them all illegal because he feels they are dangerous?
Delaware Watch said…
"I can make the arguement that skate boards, baseball, sleds, and flying a kite are dangerous."

Were any of these ever designated as defective products? If there is a TYPE or BRAND of, say, sled that is dangerous and determined to be defective, then it should not be sold for use.

You Libertarians are rather caviler when it comes to the safety of children.
Anonymous said…
OHMYGOD! these are dangerous toys! Would you want to buy one for your little kid if it was dangerous. The only way to stop these people from selling them is to outright ban the sale. Just saying, "that toy is dangerous, shouldnt buy it for your kid", doesnt get it. How many parents read the newspapers, or listen to the news? Free markets can be dangerous markets unless they are stopped.

Polly pockets have frickin lead in them. They should be banned from any sale...keep those lead loaded chinese toys coming folks... a little lead will make your child smarter!
Libertarian in Colorado said…
"You Libertarians are rather caviler when it comes to the safety of children."

I know this is going to come as a shocker. I hope you're sitting down. Perhaps, just maybe, i mean... is there a slight possibility that the parent could make that judgement on their own?

I know... there's that nutjob libertarian talk again. Sorry.

The "it's for the children" argument is like a
Godwin. The first person that pulls out "WHY WON'T YOU THINK OF THE CHILDREN!??!?!" should always automatically lose any argument.
Hube said…
There's a good comment discussion on this topic here.
Anonymous said…
I find it somewhat unreasonable to expect BillyBob and his toothless wife to know if the Easy Bake Oven that belonged to their Kool-Aid stained, inbred brats, that they're trying to sell at the annual trailer park yard sale, was subject to a 10 year old recall.
Does anyone happen to know how many kids actually died from an Easy Bake Oven? I don't seem to remember the outrage.

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