50,000 of these postcards have landed in New York.

By far, the largest proponent of the magnet ban is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Her powerful voice handedly set off this suffocating avalanche of magnet regulation. A public letter from Zen Magnets LLC awaits her at YoGillibrand.com, asking her to reconsider her position on banning magnet spheres.

  • Call her at 212-688-6262
  • Email her here.
  • Share YoGillibrand.com on her facebook.
If this were on a public ballot, it would be a non issue. But it’s not. Three of four leaders among the federal CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) are taking unprecedented measures to ban magnet spheres (Including: Buckyballs, ZenMagnets, Neoballs, Nanodots, Neocube), and they aren’t accountable to the opinions of the democracy they serve. To be clear, the CPSC isn’t asking for compromise, they want a complete ban because children have been accidentally swallowing magnets…

Here’s what the 7 year veteran commissioner, and voice of reason at the CPSC, Nancy Nord says about it:

-The assumption that warnings don’t work, undermine past safety standards deemed acceptable by the CPSC and US Congress.

-The ban is overly broad. There are two hazard patterns: Children under 5 exploring their environment with their tounge, and teenagers mimicking piercings. Also, the ban includes products that have not demonstrated to pose the same risk. Over-inclusive rules needlessly strange commerce and innovation.

-These magnets have much more utility, and lower instance of hazard than other products on the market.

All magnet sphere companies are being punished because of the mistakes of few. Many companies, such as Zen Magnets LLC, the parent of Neoballs, has never referred to magnet spheres as children’s toys; has never put magnets on any retail shelves, let alone next to kids toys; and has had exactly Zero recorded ingestion incidents. Despite the absurdity, it’s possible all magnet spheres will become harder to obtain than ammunition in America.

Upton Sinclair once said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” And unfortunately the CPSC is a Goliath of a Federal agency with a long pay roll, and almost endless funding. And even worse, the CPSC hasn’t been playing nice, and they have done their best to ignore the almost unanimous public disagreement.

What do you wanna know?

By every measure, this is the most unpopular market restriction pushed by the CPSC. To derive public opinion estimates, public comment narratives from the formal comments submitted regarding the proposed rule to ban magnets, as well as narratives (Blue comment links) parsed from comments collected by major news articles. Although as much as 95% of the American population disagrees with the ban, a conservative estimate is 85%.

They’re really banning magnets?

Yes, it’s already happening.

Initially, requests to “immediately stop manufacturing, importing, distributing and selling” were sent to magnet sphere distributors. Many were also sent to retailers such as Amazon and eBay, who immediately complied. 13 magnet sphere brands, 11 of them complied. The CPSC likes to tout that “11 of 13” did the right thing, yet in every interview, those who have given up have said they did not agree with the CPSC, and they complied to avoid legal costs. Only two magnet companies stood up to the CPSC: Zen Magnets and Buckyballs.

Now, the CPSC has launched a two prong attack against the magnet industry. The first were administrative complaint lawsuits, launched like seeker missiles against the two magnet sphere companies big enough to fight; condemned as “Back-door” rulemaking by the Nancy Nord. The second is the Proposed Rulemaking issued by the CPSC, to salt the grounds on which on which the magnet sphere industry grows, a complete blanket ban which would also stop importation.

What about compromise?

Here’s are the compromises that the magnet sphere industry have offered:

FAQ to CPSC

There are quite a few common questions that the CPSC fails to address.

Who would enforce a ban?

It would be easy for the government to stop companies from selling magnet spheres from inside the US. However, it’s unclear exactly how the CPSC would stop importation of rare earth magnets of  specific quantity, size, strength, and marketed purpose. Over 97% of all rare earth magnets are manufactured China, and seeing as how impossibly burdensome of a task it would be for US customs to filter out certain times of magnets, the CPSC would really only be shutting down US companies.

How does it make sense to make magnets harder to obtain than ammunition?

Their only response for this is that “guns are out of their jurisdiction. ” It seems democracy is out of their jurisdiction too.

What you can do

Top Down Pressure

By far, the largest proponent of the magnet ban is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Her powerful voice handedly set off this suffocating avalanche of magnet regulation. Overall, she’s a respectable politician who’s done plenty of good. A public letter from Zen Magnets LLC awaits her at YoGillibrand.com, asking her to reconsider her position on banning magnet spheres.

  • Call her at 212-688-6262
  • Email her here.
  • Share YoGillibrand.com on her facebook.

Speak Up

There’s a Change.org petition, but let’s be honest. Petitions are easy to sign, but they are easy to ignore. Use the widget below to add your name to the largest petition the CPSC has ever faced, but their track record shows they generally ignore the public verdict. This petition argues that education, and not regulation is the solution to magnet dangers.

 

You can also contribute to a growing collection of over three hundred letters, and we’ll even mail it on your behalf. If it is over 1000 words, you may even win a mini set of Zen Magnets if your letter is awesome. Make sure you letter is addressed and signed, then save it as a .doc or .pdf file. Then send it to contact(at)zenmagnets.com with the subject: “Don’t Ban Magnets.” Also include your address in the email in case you are rewarded with magnets.

A big way you can push, is by spreading awareness. Send a tweet, write or comment on blogs, tell your friends.

The Front Door [Expired]

The proposed “Safety Standard” would effectively ban all “aggregates, collections or sets” or small high powered magnets, sold as “manipulative” for “general entertainment.” This is the only place the CPSC is legally required to consider comments, important because all other forms of communication are ignored. Due Nov 19th, so do this first. Read the submitted comments here.

 


 

Letters collected


Target of letter is noted with an ‘X’. Google account login may be required for some files.

# Author Name Essay Link 1-10 Quality (+note) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand CPSC Commiss -ioners CPSC Staff Sen Sherrod Brown Pres. Obama
309 Kevin Dong View Here 8.5 X X
308 Wickus Strydom View Here 8 X
307 Sonal Patel View Here 9 X
306 Ryan Sloan View Here 8.5 X
305 Mallory Dupont View Here 8 X X X
304 Eduard Tudor View Here 8.5 X X
303 Eric T. View Here 9.5 X X X X X
302 Jason Boomsma View Here 9 X X X X
301 Aaron Batan View Here 7 (Too many lists) X
300 Mikey Arntfield View Here 8.5 X X
299 Dylan Kenny View Here 9 X
298 Benjamin Goosen View Here 8.5 X X
297 Aryu Magneson View Here 8 X X
296 Thomas M Crawford View Here 8 (Magnets not toys, grammar) X X
295 Mike Isbill View Here 9 X X X
294 Quark Wei View Here 8 X
293 Karl Smith View Here 8.5 X X X
292 Jared Goodwin View Here 9 X X
291 Doni Montiel View Here 8.5 (Magnets not toys) X X X
290 Abdul Ibraham View Here 8.5 X X X
289 Nirav Patel View Here 9 X X
288 Keith Chernek View Here 8.5 X X X
287 Andy Racic View Here 9 X X X X
286 Troy Stevens View Here 8.5 X
285 Joseph Bustamante View Here 8.5 X
284 Jonathan Baker View Here 8 X
283 Ian Glodich View Here 8.5 X X
282 Mikael Renteria View Here 8.5 X X
281 Sharon Bennett View Here 8.5 X X X
280 Spencer Eggers View Here 8 (Buckyballs) X
279 Alex Tabary View Here 9 X X
278 Eric Bookbinder View Here 8.5 X X
277 Aiden Enright View Here 8 X X X
276 Chris Phan View Here 8 X
275 James MacGregor View Here 8.5 X
274 Lori Galliford-Howell View Here 8.5 X X X X X
273 Willey Lee View Here 8 X
272 Jeff Perkowski View Here 8.5 X
271 Robert Megill View Here X X X
270 James Lee View Here 8.5 X
269 Fernando Peña View Here 8.5 (Grammar) X
268 Daniel Auerbach View Here 8 (Some grammar) X
267 Perry Jiang View Here 8.5 X
266 Nat B. View Here 8.5 X X X X
265 David P. View Here 7.5 (Magnets not toys) X X
264 Kevin Stueber View Here 9 X X
263 Justin Brooks View Here 8.5 (Buckyballs) X
262 Luis Pelayo View Here 7.5 X X X
261 Zach Bytsura View Here 8 X X
260 Aaron MacDonald View Here 8.5 X X
259 Kevin Hsieh View Here 9 X X
258 Vivian Young View Here 8 X
257 Marissa Krolnik View Here 7.5 (Magnets not toys) X X
256 Scott Grubczak View Here 8 (Good, some grammar) X
255 Edward Yamut View Here 8 (buckyballs) X X X
254 Edwin Vanhook View Here 9 X
253 Danny Mitchell View Here 7.5 (Strongly against Obama. Some grammar) X
252 Patrick O’Hare View Here 9 (buckyballs) X X X
251 Aaron Rivera View Here 8 X X
250 Katie B. View Here 8 X
249 Jenny Gordon View Here 8 X
248 Brook Jordan View Here 8.5 X X X
247 Anna Ingouf View Here 5 (Weird. Unintentionally funny.) X X X
246 Tiffany Jones View Here 8 X X
245 Whitney Sit View Here 8.5 X
244 Issac Guiza View Here 9 X X X
243 Derek Luschynski View Here 8.5 X X X
242 Johnathan Tripp View Here 6 (Magnets not toys) X X X
241 Jared H View Here 8 (Paragraphs!) X
240 Will Kitchens View Here 8 (Very interesting, some spelling) X X
239 Dave Parrish View Here 8.5 X
238 Michael Hudachek View Here 8.5 X
237 William Schlieper View Here 8.5 X X X X
236 Bryan Gunnoe View Here 9 X X
235 Brittney O’Shinski View Here 9 X X
234 Alex Lachia View Here 8.5 X X X X X
233 Doruk Kaynak View Here 8.5 X X
232 Ayana Burkins View Here 8.5 X
231 Leslie Lopez View Here 7.5 X X
230 April Easterling View Here 7.5 X X X
229 Jordan Hall View Here 9 X
228 Max Wei View Here 8 X X X
227 Patricia Tang View Here 8 X
226 Abery Fuentes View Here 8 (Entertaining) X X
225 Jesse Song View Here 8 X
224 Zach Swee View Here 8.5 X
223 Andrew Wilson View Here 7.5 (Factual error, no Zen injuries) X X
222 Adam Rein View Here 8.5 X X
221 Turil Cronburg View Here 8.5 X X
220 Anthony Dinh View Here 7.5 (buckyballs) X
219 Nick Douglas View Here 9 X
218 Daniel Lee View Here 8 X
217 Dillan Nguyen View Here 8.5 X X
216 Ernesto V. Dimperio View Here 8.5 X X X
215 Jeff Chan View Here 8 X X
214 Ellen K. View Here 8 X X X X
213 Jorge Cervantes View Here 8 (Paragraphs!) X
212 Michael M. View Here 8 (Spelling and grammar X
211 Ryan Cress View Here 8 X
210 Scott Hansen View Here 8.5 X X X X
209 Dane Young View Here 8 X
208 Becky T. View Here 8 X X X
207 Paul Schipper View Here 9 X
206 Devin Michael O’Keefe View Here 8 X X X X
205 Jack VanHouten View Here 8 (Too many quotes) X
204 Tarek Dewey View Here 9 X X
203 Kathleen Ohde View Here 8 (Some grammar) X X
202 Garrison Gerard View Here 8 X
201 Caleb Zulawski View Here 8.5 X X
200 Megan Walsh View Here 8.5 X X X
199 Kendrick McMellon View Here 8 X
198 A. McPhie View Here 8.5 X
197 James Jamieson View Here 8 X
196 Zane Memarest View Here 8.5 X X
195 Christopher L. View Here 8 X
194 Dmitriy Dorfman View Here 8 X X X
193 Brad O. View Here 8 X
192 Katie Pitts View Here 9 X
191 Brittnee Rone View Here 8 X X X X
190 Sara Tom View Here 8 (Buckyballs) X
189 Sara Lim View Here 8.5 X
188 Jay Goldsmith View Here 8 X
187 Tania Clemons View Here 7.5 (Spelling and Grammar) X
186 Ethan S. View Here 7.5 X
185 Nick Mulluzzo View Here 8 X X
184 Alan Denton View Here 8.5 (Some spelling errors) X X X
183 Hyder Cadersa View Here 8 X X
182 Rachel Bedrosky View Here 8.5 X X
181 David Miller View Here 8 X X
180 James Reese View Here 7.5 X
179 Billy Warner View Here 9 X X X X
178 Dikran Nalbandian View Here 8.5 X X X
177 Arthur Seldon View Here 8.5 X X
176 Guinevere Cuthbert View Here 7.5 (Sometimes too much sass) X X X X
175 Greg Duffie View Here 7.5 X X
174 Chad R. View Here 7.5 (Lots of quotes) X
173 Elizabeth Gessaman View Here 8 X
172 Tyler Goodrich View Here 8 X X X
171 Michael Messer View Here 7.5 X X X
170 Alexis Brown View Here 7 X X X
169 Eric Linn View Here 7.5 X X
168 Jerry Trevino View Here 8 X X X X
167 Neil Patel View Here 8.5 X X
166 Karen Boodwa View Here 8 X
165 Michael Herman View Here 8.5 X
164 Tyler Phillips View Here 8.5 X X
163 Emma H View Here 9 X X
162 Grant Korbel View Here 7 (Spelling and Grammar. Paragraphs!) X X
161 Ceasar Yapura View Here 8.5 X X
160 Stefan Ruffini View Here 9 X
159 Ola Owoputi View Here 8 X X
158 Zack Mullins View Here 8 X X
157 Robert McFadden View Here 7 (Magnets not toys) X
156 Peter Watson View Here 8 (Fact Error: No Fatalities) X
155 Michael A. Doss View Here 9 X X X
154 Seth Cardoza View Here 8 X
153 Jeff Holden View Here 8 X X X X
152 Francis Hoey View Here 8.5 X
151 Ant Martinez View Here 7.5 X X X
150 R. Fortune View Here 8 X X X X X
149 Kevin Burlington View Here 7 (Buckyballs) X X
148 Elizabeth Miller View Here 8.5 X X X X
147 Peter Evans-Digre View Here 8 X
146 Evan Largent View Here 8.5 X X X
145 Ryan O’Hanlon View Here 6 (Mostly quotes) X
144 Jim McCoo View Here 7 X X
143 William Berkenkamp View Here 8.5 X
142 Colin Gahungu View Here 8 X X
141 Blair Sammons View Here 8.5 X X
140 Seth Winslow View Here 7 X
139 Anthony Gribble View Here 8.5 X X
138 Barry G. View Here 8.5 X X
137 Aaron J. Radatz View Here 9 X X
136 Justin Chen View Here 8.5 X X X
135 Zachary Wolfe View Here 8 X X
134 Andrew Schwarz View Here 8.5 X X X X
133 Travis Howell View Here 9 X X
132 Nick Perkins View Here 8.5 X
131 Joseph Baker View Here 8 X X X X
130 Sara Phillips View Here 8 X X X
129 Gabriel Hernandez View Here 8 X X
128 Gina A. View Here 7.5 X X X
127 Harry H. View Here 8 X X
126 Devin Montes View Here 8.5 X X X X X
125 Ryan Kasper View Here 8.5 X X
124 Andrew Layton View Here 8.5 X
123 Andrew Saggiorato View Here 0 (Plagiarized 36) X X
122 Ryan Crosby View Here 8.5 X X
121 Christopher Hagen View Here 0 (Plagiarized 27) X
120 Joseph Pomes View Here 7 (Buckyballs) X X X X
119 Nash Alcorn View Here 7.5 X
118 Josiah Elliott View Here 7 X X X X
117 Andy Kova View Here 9 X
116 Justin Goodman View Here 8 X
115 Kevin Bauer View Here 8 X X
114 Maxwell Mazzoni View Here 9 X X X X
113 Dinesh McGinty View Here 6.5 (Factual errors) X
112 Jennifer Powell View Here 8 X X
111 Michael Caplan View Here 7.5 X X X
110 Darren Ho View Here 7.5 (Factual errors) X X
109 Eric S View Here 8.5 X
108 Matthew Lyons View Here 9 X
107 Nicole Wilkinson View Here 9 X
106 Nicholas Nonno View Here 7 X X
105 Terry Wooldridge View Here 0 (Plagiarized 33) X X
104 Admin Husic View Here 9 X X
103 Mike C View Here 8.5 X X
102 Mack Colwell View Here 9 X
101 Nik Brodeur View Here 9.5 (Love the beginning) X
100 Lauren Mikell View Here 8 X X
99 Michelle C. View Here 7 X X X X
98 Chris Turner View Here 6 X X
97 Justin McHenry View Here 0 (plagiarized 21) X X X
96 Allen Guo View Here 9 X
95 Tushar Chandra View Here 4 X X X X X
94 Ryan Standley View Here 0 (plagiarized 41) X
93 Adam Lawrence View Here 0 (plagiarized 16) X X X X
92 Nick Bauer View Here 8 (Bucky Balls) X X
91 Hunter Hardin View Here 0 (plagiarized 21) X
90 John Thompson View Here 0 (plagiarized 42) X X
89 Todd Dwyer View Here 0 (plagiarized 21) X X
88 Arnold Ballesteros View Here 0 (plagiarized 33) X X X X
87 Alon Stotter View Here 0 (plagiarized 12) X
86 Benjamin Senko View Here 9 X
85 Armin Nasufovic View Here 9 X X
84 Jacob Lopez View Here 7 (Buckyballs) X
83 Tyler Morgan View Here 6.5 (PARAGRAPHS!) X X
82 Omar Ochoa View Here 7.5 X X
81 Coltan G. View Here 8.5 X X
80 Andrew Covarrubias View Here 6.5 X X X
79 Himal Kooverjee View Here 8 X
78 Thomas Trie View Here 0 (plagiarized 39) X X
77 Lily Huang View Here 5 X X X X
76 Samuel Lamb View Here 8.5 X
75 Yousef Nofal View Here 7 X X X X
74 Stefan Codrescu View Here 8 X X
73 Conner Schaak View Here 7 X X X X
72 Luke Kushner View Here 7.5 (Bucky Balls) X X
71 Ramy Hawatmeh View Here 8 X
70 Jiaming Chen View Here 7.5 X X X X
69 Zac Gross View Here 7 X
68 Marian Jamieson View Here 8 X X X X
67 Jonathan Ramirez View Here 7 X
66 Philip Lee View Here 0 (Plagiarized #25,28,32,22) X
65 Jeremy King View Here 8 X
64 Rachel Burke View Here 0 (Plagiarized 38) X X X X X
63 Chris Dahlkvist View Here 0 (plagiarized 27) X
62 Matt Hawkes View Here 0 (Plagiarized 21) X
61 Liz Popescue View Here 7 X
60 Riley McNamee View Here 8 X X
59 Code Maden View Here 8 X
58 Steve Perry View Here 8 X
57 Daryl K View Here 8 X X X X
56 Sabrina Bourque View Here 9 (sassy) X X X X
55 Chris Gehon View Here 8 X X X
54 Michael Canan View Here 8 X X X
53 Jenny Smith View Here 9 (Pretty entertaining) X X X
52 Annick Laperrière View Here 8.5 X
51 David Richter View Here 9.5 (Teacher. Magnets as a science kit) X X
50 Ryan Bailey View Here 9.5 X X X X
49 Beth Easterling View Here 7 (A little annoying but very upbeat) X X
48 Andrew Holaway View Here 7.5 X
47 Tim Jones View Here 9 (Interesting. HP Lovecraft?) X X X X X
46 Anthony Johns View Here 8 (Father) X X X X X
45 Joshua S. View Here 8.5 X X
44 Paul B. View Here 8.5 X X X
43 Joseph Donofry View Here 8.5 (Buckyballs, College Student) X X X X
42 Cory Williams View Here 9 (Father) X X
41 Josh Gribbon View Here 8.5 X
40 Kevin Clarke View Here 9 (Father and educator) X X X
39 Derek Cam View Here 8 X X
38 Thomas Barlow View Here 8.5 (Catchy beginning) X X
37 David Pleimann View Here 8.5 (Graphs a father) X
36 Bryan Richardson View Here 8 (Buckyballs) X X
35 Jay Leo View Here 9.5 (Good thought processes) X
34 Joyce Lee View Here 9 X
33 Matthew Koziorowski View Here 8 (Buckyballs, College graduate) X X X X
32 Luke Dubert View Here 5 X
31 Michael Dawson View Here 7.5 (College student) X X
30 Kyle Evans View Here 7 X
29 Lora Shekell View Here 8 (Mother) X
28 Brandon Hansen View Here 7.5 X X X X
27 Chris Borneman View Here 9.5 X
26 Henry Gee View Here 7 X X
25 Tracie Turnbull View Here 7 (Teacher) X
24 Brittany Elliot View Here 7 (Buckyballs) X
23 Andrew Kordalski View Here 7.5 X X
22 Ray K View Here 7 X
21 Derrick Guerra View Here 9 X
20 Brian Walsh View Here 0 (Plagiarized from wired article) X X
19 Scott Soltero View Here 8 (Father) X X X
18 Josh Coleman View Here 7 X X
17 Jonathan Bolind View Here 6 X X
16 Dimitri Tishchenko View Here 7 X X X X X
15 James Lee View Here 7 X
14 Jake Eshbaugh View Here 8 X X X
13 Stephanie Chin View Here 8 X
12 James Eccles View Here 8 X X
11 Joshua Shetler View Here 7 X
10 Daniel Singer View Here 6 X X X
9 Brandon Taylor View Here 7 X
8 Andy H. View Here 9 X X X
7 Kate Jarvis View Here 8 X
6 Katherine Ringo View Here 9 X X
5 Alyssa Boyd View Here 9 X X X X X
4 Brent Neely View Here 7 X
3 Nicole Perkins View Here 7 X
2 Tyler Moore View Here 7 X