Only in America?

On February 10th a new law comes into effect in America called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Now with a name like that I am sure you are thinking what on earth can one find to complain about? Well, the consequences of this law would seem to imply that either children will be banned from entering libraries or millions of children's books will have to be destroyed.
This law requires that all products for children under 12, including books, games, toys and clothing, must be tested for the presence of lead. It is estimated that the testing required for a book would cost between $300 and $600. Presumably, for a new book, this cost would be borne by the publisher but what about all the existing books in the libraries? The American Libraries Association says that they cannot afford to test every book and that, as a consequence, millions of books would have to be taken off the shelves and destroyed in order that children will be able to enter a library.
My question is "How many children have suffered from the lead content of books, games, toys and clothing? Is this a problem that needs fixing?" My thoughts are how long before the EU enacts something similar. See here for the story.

Unintended Consequences Again

The EU thinks that it needs to save the planet from excessive CO2 emissions so it has introduced a carbon trading scheme. The idea is that permits are handed out to industry to allow them to produce CO2. If you need more permits then you have to buy them off somebody else who doesn't need all their permits. Thus a fixed amount of CO2 is discharged into the atmosphere.
Each year the number of permits is reduced which has the twin effect of reducing the total amount of CO2 emitted and forcing up the price of the permits. The latter effect is designed to encourage recalcitrant industries to reduce their CO2 output.
The only problem is that this whole scheme is based on a growing economy. Now, you may have noticed that European economies are not growing. In fact production by industry has declined so much that the output of CO2 will be below the amount this years permits allow. Thus companies are selling off excess permits to make a few bob and, in doing so, they are depressing the price of the permits.
It doesn't encourage one to feel good about the EU does it?
(H/T EU Referendum)