The Real Diaper Industry Association board held their annual board meeting Saturday, September 12 and elected new officers to lead the association during this exciting time of growth for the cloth diaper industry.

• Chairperson, Leah Carter – Better for Babies (Manufacturer)
• Vice Chairperson, Shayla Boyd-Gill – Alyahs Alternatives (Retailer)
• Secretary, Lori Taylor – Fuzbaby (Small Manufacturer)
• Treasurer, Dennis Frederick – All Together Diaper (Manufacturer)

Cloth diaper business meeting start tomorrow, Monday, September 14 with members-only meetings of Manufacturers, Diaper Services, and Retailers. Breakout sessions will continue through the late morning and afternoon on “Tapping into Your Local Community” (Shayla Boyd-Gill, Vice Chairperson), “Regulations / CPSIA” (Leah Carter, Chairperson), “Brick and Mortar Strategies” (Molly Ging of The Little Seedling), a business panel (Dennis Frederick, Treasurer; Diana Alatalo of Babies Bottoms and More, Annual Meeting Chair; Shannon Doan of Wildflower Diapers, outgoing board member; Linda Byerline of Happy Heinys; and Judy Aagard of Tiny Tots Diaper Service & Baby Boutique, board member), and “SEO / Social Media” (Lori Taylor, Secretary).

See the full meeting schedule and visit our meeting sponsors. If you will be at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, please visit the exhibiting RDIA members’ booths.

If you can’t be at the RDIA meetings in Las Vegas this year, follow along on Twitter. @RealDiaperIA and others will be live tweeting using #rdia09 during the meetings. Frequent updates will also be posted here on the RDIA blog.

The CPSC’s Final Rule on Materials, in relation to Section 101 of the CPSIA (lead) has been released. While the document itself is lengthy, the details are concise. More than a few battles were won, although there remain some industry-specific components which do require testing.

The following materials and components are common to our industry and are EXEMPT from testing based on the fact that they have been approved by the CPSC as items which inherently do NOT contain lead.

(Please see the Federal Register for details on other exempt materials.)

What constitutes an Inaccessible Component? “[A] component part is not accessible if it is not physically exposed by reason of a sealed covering or casing and does not become physically exposed through reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of the product including swallowing, mouthing, breaking, or other children’s activities and the aging of the product.” (See 74 FR 39535.) As such, truly inaccessible components are exempt from testing per the final rule.

And, just a reminder, the current Stay of Enforcement is effective until Feb 10, 2010. This is for TESTING and certification requirements. This final rule does NOT provide a stay from the lead limits themselves.

Read the Final Rule:

• Children’s Products Containing Lead; Determinations Regarding Lead Content Limits on Certain Materials or Products, Final Rule (Draft Federal Register Notice, August 19, 2009.)