I don’t need to know all the ingredients in my toys, I just want to know there’s nothing toxic in them. Is that too much to ask?
According to NPR, based on a study by HealthyToys.org
21 percent of the toys tested from China and 16 percent of those from all other countries had detectable levels of lead this year. And of the U.S.-made toys tested, 35 percent had detectable levels of lead.
Isn’t regulating things like this, along with regulating the banking industry, one of those things that Congress is supposed to do? Lead has been illegal in auto gasoline (still permitted in other uses) since 1995. Can’t we keep it out of our kids mouths too?
Please share widely!
stomv says
but they do seem a bit extreme here.
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p>Lead paint is a problem because kids eat it, and their bodies digest it. Even if kids to put toys in their mouths, I suspect that they’re not digesting nearly the same quantity (if any) of the toy… so their total lead exposure would seem to be far less.
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p>Again, I don’t know the details, nor do I trust Bush’s executive branch to be out in front on consumer safety issues, but detecting the presence of lead is a far cry from detecting a dangerous presence of lead. They do allude to finding products who’s lead content will be illegal two months from now… those are the products I’d be most concerned with, and I have no sense for what percent of toy sales will be toys in that category.
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p>My recommendation: buy kids legos, wooden blocks, tinker toys, and sports/exercise gear. But then, I’m an engineer who flirts with a BMI between “normal” and “overweight”.
jeremy-marin says
Points taken (though I can’t speak to your BMI) but one thing that seems clear is the risk not only of consuming lead (via paint chips or toys in their entirety) but licking and chewing on them.
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p>Pieces of lead flake off. Does a child need to lick one Thomas the Tank engine or suck on thirteen before they are affected? I don’t know the answer but I do know that I expect the government to regulate and test the products my child plays with so they won’t poison him.
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p>Where’s the money to test the toys come from? Fine the heck out of companies that are producing unsafe toys.
keepin-it-cool says
Children can get leading poisoning from lead in dust. They don’t have to eat paint chips. I imagine that lead in paint on toys can be taken in if the toys are sucked on or chewed on – they don’t have to “eat” it.
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p>In any event,why should one take a chance with a child’s health and/or future intelligence levels?
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p>Toys should not have toxic substances in them – period.
stomv says
Got data for that? Is 1 ppm safe? 10 ppb? I’d love to see a link that cites some agency with authority [either legal or medical] to back that claim.
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p>My hunch is that one doesn’t exist.
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p>If a substance is diluted enough — and has no risk of consolidating to increase concentration — than it isn’t toxic – period.
masscamel says
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has stated that
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/…
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p>Independent studies, meanwhile, have shown that the current level of “safe” is actually not safe at all ( http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/… ).
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p>There’s also a fault in your logic. Substances are or are not toxic, regardless of dilution. Dilution just means you need to absorb a larger volume of the total solution before suffering obvious effects; the chemical itself is toxic regardless.
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p>My point is that while there may exist a “safe” level of lead in the blood stream, we have no idea how low it is. Shouldn’t we take the safe course and remove all lead from products designed for children?
stomv says
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p>Our old friend O_2 is, by your definition, toxic. Inhaling pure oxygen causes brain damage.
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p>There’s no fault to the logic. A single atom of Pb will not harm you. It won’t. That atom simply isn’t, by itself, toxic. Period. It’s just as toxic as a single molecule of O_2 — not at all.
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p>That written, you cited legit sources. That’s cool. You cited an independent study which shows that “safe” just isn’t, and you also show that, at this time, we don’t know if there is a level which is safe*. Since there’s no benefit to the toy having lead, I concur that we ought to do no harm in this case. Congress has new thresholds going into effect in February, and I would support phasing lead out of toys completely in a very fast time frame, with harsh penalties for violations.
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p>* stomv’s singularity states that a single atom of any element is safe to touch, smell, lick, or ingest.
masscamel says