23 February 2009

The New Book Banning by Walter Olson for City Journal:

It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute.

It has to do with lead in printing-inks prior 1985. According to Olson, however, “no one seems to have been able to produce a single instance in which an American child has been made ill by the lead in old book illustrations.”

The law seems incredibly shortsighted and inconsiderate. A “feel-good law,” as Olson writes. What kind of dummies do we have passing such legislation? The article in whole is highly recommended.

(Via Design Observer.)