Testing Detects Lead in Christmas Toys

Now parents in Columbus, Missouri can bring toys to the East-Central Health Department units at Alegent Health Memorial Hospital and at Columbus Community Hospital on January 12 for free testing for high lead levels if they are worried about toys that have not been subject to the recalls.

The free tests are part of a growing willingness on the part of health agencies to test toys for lead and other toxics.

In San Francisco, three days in December, the San Francisco Department of the Environment offered free public toy testing at the EcoCenter on Grove Street. They used an instant read testing device, called a portable X-Ray Fluorescence analyzer, to determine whether sample children’s toys containlead, cadmium, or other toxic compounds.

In Michigan, the Muskegon County Health Department tested toys for free on December 19 at the Muskegon Central Fire Station and also tested children for lead poisoning at no charge. A hand-held analyzer, provided by Innov-X Systems, was used to screen toys, jewelry and trinkets for lead contamination even through toy packaging. Results were provided instantly.

An analyzer gives instant readouts for the amount of lead in toys like this play tea set. (Photo courtesy Essco Safety Check)

Two brothers in Bellevue, Washington formed a company, purchased such an analyzer for about $15,000, and are now performing in-home testing for lead. The cost is $125 for the first half hour and $50 for each additional half hour for them to come to your home and detect lead in your childrens' toys.

Lead was banned in house paint, on products marketed to children, and in dishes or cookware in the United States in 1978. Still, it is widely used in other countries such as China and can be found on toys imported into the United States.

Imported toys as well as antique toys passed down through generations, put children at risk for lead exposure. Lead also can be found in plastics used in toy manufacture. Lead softens the plastic and makes it more flexible.

The nonprofit Ecology Center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan has posted a database of toys at http://www.healthytoys.org/ where parents and other caregivers can now search by product name, brand, or toy type to learn how the products rate in terms of harmful chemical content.

The Healthy Toys database contains the results of the Ecology Center's testing of 1,200 popular children's toys for toxic chemicals.

"The government is not testing for toxic chemicals in toys, and too many manufacturers are not self-regulating, so we created the nation's first toy database to help inform and empower consumers," said Tracey Easthope, MPH, director of the Ecology Center's Environmental Health Project.

The Brush Your Teeth! Robot (Photo courtesy Ecology Center)

The Brush Your Teeth! Robot tops the Ecology Center's list of the toys with the highest amount of lead. This wooden toothbrush holder made in Italy features a wood and metal robot. The lead in the robot's eyeballs is double the amount of lead in the next worst lead-containing toy and thousands of times above the federal legal limits for lead exposure.

The toys that contained the next highest amounts of lead are two play dinner sets made in China. The Starlez Dinner Party Tea Set and the Starlez Large Ceramic Tea Set both contain illegally high amounts of lead.

Also on the Healthy Toys worst list are card games, backpacks, shoes, and a doll - most made in China.

Some toys containing high levels of lead are not recalled, even when lead levels are known. Congressman Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, became alarmed when Fisher Price, a subsidiary of giant toymaker Mattel, did not recall a toy medical kit despite findings of dangerously high levels of lead in a red blood pressure cuff contained in the kit.

Cummings held a news conference on Thursday to focus more attention on the dangers of lead in toys.

"When Fisher Price was notified of the high lead content in this toy - in levels at nearly 500 percent of the federal standard for paint - the company did nothing," said Cummings.

"In fact, it was not until Fisher Price was notified that the toy was in violation of Illinois state lead regulations that it took any action at all," he said. "It pulled the toy off the shelves in Illinois and continues to sell it everywhere else."

Cummings has sent a letter to Robert Eckert, the CEO of Mattel, encouraging him to stop using lead entirely in all of the toys produced by his company.

"More than 20 million dangerous imported toys managed to slip through the cracks and onto the shelves of our stores - and of our children’s bedrooms - before being recalled this year," Cummings said. "With a figure that high, we are not talking about a few cracks, however. We are talking about a major chasm in our system that absolutely must be addressed by every party involved."

On December 19, the House passed H.R. 4040, a bill co-sponsored by the Cummings, which strengthens regulations of lead in toys and expands the authority of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The bill creates the toughest lead standard in the world for children’s products and bans the importation of children’s products that have not been tested and do not conform to U.S. standards.

Meanwhile, the recalls keep coming.

On December 19, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, of Dallas, Texas recalled about 11,400 soldier bear wooden toys and a plastic military vehicle toy playset made in Hong Kong because the paint on the toys contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

And also on the 19th, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Discount School Supply, of Monterey, California recalled 13,000 copies of a Giant Grow Chart that measures a child’s growth with a giant yellow ruler-shaped plastic chart. The paint on the chart contains excess levels of lead.

Baby Bead & Wire Toys have high levels of lead. (Photo courtesy New York State Health Department)

And on December 13, the commission, after being alerted by the state of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection, ordered the recall of about 300,000 Baby Bead & Wire Toys and Speed Racer Pull Back & Go Action! Cars.

The Baby Bead & Wire Toys were sold at Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1 and Deal$ stores nationwide from March 2007 through October 2007 and the Speed Racer Cars were sold at these stores from September 2007 through November 2007.

Other toys recalled for high-lead levels in December include jewelry, water globes, fishing games, magnets, paint brushes, potty training seats, holiday ornaments, and figurines.

"Ultimately consumers need to compel the federal government and toy manufacturers to eliminate dangerous chemicals from toys," Easthope said.

If parents discover high-lead toys in their homes, children should not be allowed to play with the toys, health departments advise. Instead, parents should put the toys in a place where children cannot find them until the toys can be returned or destroyed as directed.

Pennsylvania State Health Secretary Dr. Calvin Johnson says all children should be tested for lead poisoning at one and two years of age and no later than three years of age.

"We want people to know lead poisoning is a very real danger with very real consequences for children," Dr. Johnson said.

Lead poisoning can affect people of all ages, but has the greatest impact on the development of children under the age of six. In addition to dangers associated with lead-based paint on toys, children can inhale or ingest lead found in old, deteriorated lead-based paint in their homes.

Lead poisoning can cause permanent damage to the brain, the nervous system and the kidneys.

Lead poisoning often does not present symptoms but when they do occur, the symptoms are commonly confused with other illnesses. Symptoms may include stomach aches/cramps, convulsions, headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, irritability, vision problems, loss of appetite and sleeplessness.

At lower blood lead levels, a child with lead poisoning usually does not look or feel sick, health officials say. The vast majority of children with lead poisoning will not have any obvious signs or symptoms. The only sure way to know is to get a blood lead test.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state health departments do not recommend home test kits to detect lead in toys, paint, dust, or soil. Studies show that these kits are not reliable enough to tell the difference between high and low levels of lead.

Call your state or county health department for information about testing toys for lead in your area.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.