Get the Lead Out

Posted on August 24, 2007
by Maureen Keene

Dangerous levels of lead have been discovered in vinyl baby bibs — first by an Illinois grandmother and then by the Center for Environmental Health, which found levels as high as three times the allowed amount. The New York Times also hired a laboratory to conduct tests which yielded similar results. According to the article, the CPSC had the following reaction:

Officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates children’s products, said that they would prefer that there be no elevated levels of lead in bibs.

But their own recent tests of baby bibs on the market in the United States found that the lead, when present, was at levels low enough that a child chewing on or rubbing the bib would not get an unhealthy dose.

An unhealthy dose? Is there a parent out there who thinks that any dose of lead is healthy? And I’ll ask a question that I have posed previously: What is the cumulative effect of exposure to low levels of lead from a large array of products over a long period of time? Jeremy R. Knowles, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Harvard, is quoted on this topic in the New York Times:

“I’m not normally a rabble rouser, but I’m disturbed by the potential enormity of this problem. We’re talking about millions of toys, and the possibility of an entire generation of children being exposed to gratuitous constraints on their neurological development.”

Hamco Baby Products, a division of Crown Crafts and the manufacturer of the lead-contaminated bibs sold at Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Babies R Us, defended its products in a press release. It’s defense rests on the CPSC’s tests: ”none of the bibs that were tested at the CPSC’s Laboratory would pose a risk of substantial illness to children from mouthing.”

The Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association also issued a press release in an attempt to quell fears, saying that parents are being “needlessly alarmed” by media reports and stating, “If CPSC had found vinyl with a dangerous amount of lead that was accessible to children and could put them in harm’s way, they would have taken swift action.”

At the end of the JPMA’s statement is a description of the organization that pretty much sums up why they are telling parents not to worry and to keep right on buying those lead-laden vinyl bibs:

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JPMA) is a national trade organization representing 95% of the $7.3 billion industry. JPMA, formed in 1962 with 29 industry companies, has grown to include more than 325 companies in the United States, Canada and Mexico. These companies manufacture and/or import infant products such as cribs, car seats, strollers, bedding, and a wide range of accessories and decorative items.

Both Hamco and the JPMA are trying to sell consumers on a highly questionable assumption — that the CPSC is a trustworthy authority on lead. But the CPSC already has a record of favoring tests that benefit manufacturers more than children when it comes to lead. This was precisely the case with tests showing dangerous levels of lead in vinyl lunchboxes. (Isn’t that the dream of every parent — to lovingly make a healthful and balanced lunch for his or her child and pack it in a lead box?) Shame on the JPMA and shame on the CPSC for taking a stance that some lead exposure is ok. Lead is highly toxic, and what’s more, its use is totally unnecessary. By approving the presence of lead in children’s products the CPSC is allowing a needless risk to our children’s health and development.

There is simply no amount of lead in children’s products that is safe or necessary. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that “no safe blood level in children has been determined.” The Center for Environmental Health reports that “lead has a profound ability to damage children’s intellectual and behavioral development. Children who have been exposed to higher levels of lead score lower on IQ tests than children with less exposure. Children with higher exposures are also more impulsive and have shorter attention spans.”

The bottom line is, we can continue to have products tested and worry about whether the testing is accurate and whether we are being told the full story by the CPSC, manufacturers and retailers, or we can demand a solution that is radical in its simplicity: zero lead in children’s products. No more lead. Period. Lead is not a necessity. There is no required daily minimum intake for lead. It is a dangerous heavy metal that we have decided has no business in household paint or gasoline. So why on earth should we tolerate the presence of any amount of lead, no matter how small, in our children’s toys, bibs, lunchboxes, jewelry or other products? As long as some lead is allowed, there will continue to be the risk of manufacturers using too much lead. Consumers need to collectively say that all lead exposure is harmful, unnecessary and presents a risk that we are unwilling to take. Let’s eliminate lead in children’s products altogether and be done with it.

Tell your representatives in Congress to Get the Lead Out.

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