By Tim Buche

Any.  An innocent three-letter word, one would think.  For hundreds of thousands of Americans and for the powersports industry, it is the most powerful word in the dictionary today.  And it's led to another three-letter word with enormous impact:  ban.

Three-letter words that could halt a recreational enjoyment of the great outdoors for parents with their children all across America.  Three-letter words that are compounding how thousands of small businesses are already dealing with the economic challenges of the recession.

The powersports industry is caught in the middle of a fight over words between Congress and the Consumer Product Safety Commission about the lead standards in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.  Congress voted the act into legislation last summer and the new lead content limits were implemented last month.  Many critics of the legislation believe that a wide range products have unintentionally been swept up in this legislation, which resulted in a ban of many all-terrain vehicles and off-highway motorcycles designed for youth.

Several senators and congressmen have written to, and met with, CPSC to point out that the legislation they wrote and signed into law gave CPSC the power to grant merited, common-sense exclusions, for products such as ATVs and off-highway motorcycles, from the lead standards.  But CPSC says a product can be excluded only if regulators determine that use of the product will not result in the absorption of "any" lead in the human body.

Putting aside the fact that kids won't eat or lick their ATVs or motorcycles, the industry, in fact, submitted scientific evidence to the CPSC using the analytical method required by the legislation.  The evidence demonstrates that the lead-containing components, parts and accessories of these vehicles - essential for safety or functionality purposes - pose no risk of causing measurable increase of lead in the blood stream in children aged 12 and younger.

In fact, in the scientific evidence submitted, a toxicology expert estimated that any potential lead intake resulting from kids' exposure to motorcycles and ATVs would be substantially less than the typical daily intakes of lead from food and water.
Yet these vehicles still sit in warehouses and not on showroom floors.
Meanwhile, the sales of goods like protective gear, accessories, and parts and services, are virtually non-existent.

Read More of this article