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Lead in Children's Lunch Boxes
Proven
Autism Education Product!
Study says children
tote lead in lunches
Oakland group finds high levels
of toxin in vinyl boxes used by youngsters
, FROM STAFF WRITER AND WIRE REPORTS
Inside Bay Area
Tucked in with their peanut-butter sandwiches and juice sits an
unexpected — and potentially hazardous — item in some
children's lunchboxes.
A study by an Oakland-based
environmental group found harmful levels of lead in a quarter of
the soft vinyl lunchboxes tested.
The Center for Environmental
Health found that 27 lunchboxes an at-home detection kit. The
group then sent those 27 products to an independent laboratory for
more rigorous had high levels of lead when tested with testing;
that study found 17 of the lunchboxes contained lead in excess of
federal safety standards.
One lunchbox, made by Targus
Group International Inc. and featuring the children's character
Angela Anaconda, was found to contain more than 90 times the legal
limit for lead in paint in children's products. The Center for
Environmental Health has advised parents to avoid vinyl lunchboxes
or to purchase a home test kit to check for lead. Such kits sell
for about $3 and can be found on the Internet and in hardware
stores.
Michael V. Ward, vice president
and general counsel for Targus, said last week that the
Anaheim-based company had only recently become aware of the
potential hazard and was checking with its supplier to determine
if the product wastested for lead.
"I'm not certain it does or
doesn't contain lead," Ward said of the lunchboxes.
Lara Cushing, the center's
research director, said lead was once commonly added to vinyl
plastic to prevent degradation.
"The industry is moving
away, but there are some, obviously, that have not chosen to do
so.
"It's not bound up in the
plastic," she added. "It's sloughing off. It can come
off on your hand. It can rub off on your food."
The group in recent years has
found unsafe levels of lead in some imported Mexican candies and
in children's jewelry.
The private nonprofit group
specializes in identifying hazardous sources of lead in the
environment.
A neurotoxin, lead is considered
unsafe at any level. Even small amounts can build up in the body
and cause lifelong problems, according to the California Childhood
Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch.
Fetuses and children younger than
6 are at greatest risk because their brains and nervous systems
are still forming.
Officials for the Consumer
Product Safety Commission said last week that the agency was
investigating the Center for Environmental Health's findings on
lead in lunchboxes.
A representative for the
California Department of Health Services also said the agency was
aware of the lunchbox study and was looking into the findings.
The Center for Environmental
Health has displayed photos of the lunchboxes on its Web site, https://www.cehca.org.
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