Lead law likely to still apply to youth models...

[54warrior]

Latest update:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...qvPAVgD979UA581

Lead law likely to still apply to dirt bikes, ATVs By JENNIFER C. KERR – 19 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Motorcycle shops apparently won't get a pass on a new anti-lead law that has kept dirt bikes and ATVs for children off showroom floors.

Staff members at the Consumer Product Safety Commission have decided against recommending an exemption for all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes. They can have higher-than-allowed levels of lead in the brake and clutch levers, the valve stems on tires, the battery and the steel molding that holds the engine together.

The new law, called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, was intended to keep lead away from young children by banning the metal, except in small amounts, from products for kids 12 years and under. Lead can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

The motorcycle industry says some bike parts contain small quantities of lead but that the risk of children ingesting the lead is minimal.

The recommendation was announced Wednesday. The commission usually adopts staff recommendations.

Industry groups, parents and others who support exemptions to the law spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference ahead of the decision. One of them, a young dirt-bike rider from Carlisle, Pa., drew applause for his appeal.

"Please let me have my dirt bike," said 6-year-old Chase Yentzer. "I promise I won't eat my dirt bike."

Chase's dad, Rodney, said he can't buy parts anymore for his son's bike. If it breaks down, Chase won't be able to ride or race, his father said.

The CPSC staff report says that the risk of exposure to lead from dirt bikes and ATVs is relatively low. But it adds that the way the law was written allows for no absorption whatsoever of lead into the body, and so the staff recommended against a waiver.

The bigger concern, the report said, is the ban on the sale of youth-model ATVs and dirt bikes. The elimination "will most likely increase the number of adult ATVs purchased to be used by younger children; therefore increasing their risk of injury and death," it said.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has introduced a bill in Congress that would make an exemption for youth dirt bikes and ATVs.

Congress passed the product safety law last year in the wake of a record number of recalls of lead-tainted toys. Lawmakers, consumer groups and children's safety advocates praised it, but it's been panned by others as overly broad and so sweeping that it's ensnaring products never imagined — bicycles, books and children's clothing among them.

CPSC is still examining exemptions for bicycles, older books, clothing and other products. There are concerns about the levels of lead in the ink used in older books and the zippers and snaps on children's clothing.

Consumer advocates applaud the law, but they also blame the CPSC for bungling the implementation of it.

"The CPSC has got to do its job of looking at these cases and making some type of determination on the real-world contact that children are going to have with lead," said Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate at U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

The head of the agency, Nancy Nord, has blamed confusion over the law on Congress for passing a bill with overly rigid deadlines and little or no flexibility on assessing risk of lead exposure.

[scuzz]

I totally understand protecting our kids. I think that the ATV/Motorcycle industry is just as much to blame and should have been doing something sooner about this.

Collectively they all dropped the ball.

[Brad77]

I am still scratching my head on this whole thing. I am only throwing my opinions on this because I don't have all the facts.
I am wondering if the manufacturers didn't do something about this because of the cpsc. The manufacturers could have easily changed things around and made the little units good and lead free. It would have been very costly to do it but they still could have done it. Although I am thinking that maybe the cpsc had intentions on trying to do away with the little units anyway. Its no secret that the cpsc has some issues with the powesports industry. I personally feel that if the cpsc had their way that ALL atv's would be banned from the U.S.
So maybe the manufacturers just didn't want to spend lots of money repairing a problem and then the cpsc would just have some other method of banning the sale of youth units anyway.
again just stating some opinions
:confused:

[deathman53]

so your saying that the cpsc is the do the same thing the environmentalists have been doing for years. Passing a rule, fight it out in court with the group they are targeting. Then once it gets ruled in the groups favor, do something else and start the thing all over again. Do this a few times and the group will give up on it. Many times construction projects, highways, and off-road parks have been through this. When it gets proposed, the environmentalists sue over some plant/animal, court rules against the enviro's, the project get started again. And here comes another suit over a different plant/animal. Do this a few times and the project gets canned. I can think of 5 roads/highways near me that this has happened to, 10 years later, the project is finally getting finished. 3 of the roads/highways were already half done when this started happening.

[<DRS>GPF]

Originally posted by scuzz
I totally understand protecting our kids. I think that the ATV/Motorcycle industry is just as much to blame and should have been doing something sooner about this.

Collectively they all dropped the ball.


agreed..

i cant figure why mattel/powerwheels toys can make it fine, yet someone like honda or yamaha cant.. after all, the risk is pretty much the same for the alleged accessable materials being listed in the text..

[#101]

I might sound dumb, but can someone explain to me how lead paint on a frame of an atv is dangerous to kids?

[motofreak2772]

Idk but maybe I should start selling led free miniquads and dirtbikes. If theres no one else to buy from then Ill be getting all the customers lol (even though my stuff will be junk).

[Speedy 400ex]

That is a great idea! lol The law is really dumb. Its going to get crazy out in the deserts if there is a bunch of kids riding around on bikes that are to big for them and some ones guna get killed. The manufactures should react and fix it so they can still sell bikes.

[<DRS>GPF]

Originally posted by #101
I might sound dumb, but can someone explain to me how lead paint on a frame of an atv is dangerous to kids?


because you dont need to eat the paint for the lead to be absorbed..
the whole "my kid dont eat his quad" is a very poor argument.

i think some of the problem with understanding what the issue is, is short memories..
i wasnt long ago lead in paint was a real problem and so far there doesnt seem to be much of an effort to prove the lead content in the paints being used on quads and bikes..

why is it so difficult for these mfr's to prove the safety levels of their materials? others under the same restrictions have..

[quad2xtreme]

Manufacturers may figure they don't need the youth sales nearly as much as everyone thinks. Remember when banning smoking was going to close all the restaurants and bars in NY...ended up doing nothing. Maybe the manufacturers figure they will be just fine. Maybe they decided the cost of fighting it would raise the price up so much that people wouldn't want to buy the units anyhow. Maybe they figured they would just rebadge everything for 12 and up and the units will still get sold and ridden on private lands. It will have an impact on the race scene and riding at public areas but that would be it.

I don't see why they just don't make everything 12 and up. That doesn't put a 6 year old on a quad or bike that is too big. A 16 year old can still ride a 50 or any of these other funky little small motorized vehicles that are made so this makes it so you can buy one. Then just let your 6 year old ride it.

[yam450_53]

Originally posted by quad2xtreme
Manufacturers may figure they don't need the youth sales nearly as much as everyone thinks. Remember when banning smoking was going to close all the restaurants and bars in NY...ended up doing nothing. Maybe the manufacturers figure they will be just fine. Maybe they decided the cost of fighting it would raise the price up so much that people wouldn't want to buy the units anyhow. Maybe they figured they would just rebadge everything for 12 and up and the units will still get sold and ridden on private lands. It will have an impact on the race scene and riding at public areas but that would be it.

I don't see why they just don't make everything 12 and up. That doesn't put a 6 year old on a quad or bike that is too big. A 16 year old can still ride a 50 or any of these other funky little small motorized vehicles that are made so this makes it so you can buy one. Then just let your 6 year old ride it.

I also believe that the possibilities you stated in your first paragraph could be true, but I am in total disagreement with the rest of what you said. If it avails to be true, then it is truly sad that the manufacturers won't even move a hair to try and stop it, or prove the safeness level of the materials they use. I mean, how hard is that?

You stated "Maybe they figured they would just rebadge everything for 12 and up and the units will still get sold and ridden on private lands. It will have an impact on the race scene and riding at public areas but that would be it." But that would be IT? There would be no more youth classes anywhere, no families could go ride together on PUBLIC lands anymore, leaving only private land. That would have a huge impact on the sport as a whole. And if they just decide to rebadge their youth models to 12 and up, then, as stated before, people will just buy bigger quads that are legal and make their kids ride them, and I don't think I need to tell you that this would not be very safe.

Anyhow, everybody has their opinion on this matter, but I think we all agree in majority that this law is just another ridiculous attempt from the tree huggers (whom I have deep hatred for) in their quest to try and abolish outdoor motorsports.

[quad2xtreme]

I was just guessing what the manufacturers might be thinking. I can tell you they are a business with many accountants/actuaries who have profit models out the yingyang. I have no idea what the cost is of proving they don't have lead content and how many times they would be subjected to the tests.

I say rebadge everything that was on the market 3 months ago to say 12 and up. Then, you can still buy it and let your kid ride it. This way you wouldn't need to buy them a larger quad.

Agreed, you won't be able to take them to public lands that are controlled or any racing event. This is definitely going to have some impact on the industry...I am merely guessing they are thinking it won't impact their bottom line as much as the cost of testing.

I don't think it is easy to make an economically viable product without containing lead. I think it is the bonding agent in many metals.

[yam450_53]

True that. What sickens me the most is how they decide on some random day that lead is now dangerous! Till yet I have never heard of anyone suffering of disabilities because he was affected by the lead on his quad or dirtbike, but now they decide it's dangerous...

[quad2xtreme]

banning something for sale by an age seems stupid...you telling me that Tom Cruise bought this cell phone for his daughter? Kids are going to chew on smaller stuff whether it was purchased for them or not. This is what scares me most about the review process that politicians go through before approving something. I can tell you my boss reviews and questions my request for a 100k purchase more than all the senators combined on most bills. I generally have to provide an ROI model that shows when exactly we are going to breakeven for the capital expenditure by Operational savings. All the "soft" factors hardly even hit the radar screen. It is all hard dollar factors.

[<DRS>GPF]

Originally posted by yam450_53
True that. What sickens me the most is how they decide on some random day that lead is now dangerous! Till yet I have never heard of anyone suffering of disabilities because he was affected by the lead on his quad or dirtbike, but now they decide it's dangerous...


it was hardly "on some random day".. the legislation has been poked at and manipulated for years, all the way until last august when it was passed and approved by the man in the big chair..

a couple of centuries ago, well before the time of motorcycles and quads, lead was identified as being harmful animals(which includes kids..)

somewhere in the 60's, the US planted a foot on manufacturers because of the amount of lead poisonings in consumers..(note: NO-Lead gasoline)

my point is lead poisoning isnt something that just showed up one day..
its been around and if you think that some overseas company, well protected by ITC, wouldnt use a higher than reasonable content of a banned/poison substance to cheapen the cost of production, then you are completely living under a rock..