Lead in lipstick

ALL of the lipsticks the FDA tested in the summer of 2009 contained lead.  100%.  But the FDA says there’s no reason to be concerned.  The upper safety limit for lead in candy set by the FDA is 0.1 ppm.  They found lead in lipstick at levels of 0.09 ppm to 3.06 ppm.  Apparently because lipstick is not meant to be ingested, this is okay.  But of course you ingest some of what goes on your lips.  See the report for yourself.

Cadmium replaces lead in some jewelry

Jewelry purchased at Walmart and Clare’s in November and December of 2009 tested positive for cadmium.  In fact, as much as 91% of the weight of the charms tested were cadmium.  Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that manufacturers in China are using in place of lead.  Zinc would be a much safer alternative.  For more, see the article on msnbc.com.

Protecting our children from the chemicals in their environment

Protecting my children from the chemicals and toxins in their environment is the passion that caused me to launch this blog 2.5 years ago.  After researching BPA and phthalates and working hard to eliminate them from our home, I decided to start this blog to share what I had learned.  Now that it is almost 2010, I feel like these subjects are much more common knowledge than they were when I stared looking (2005) and I’m even finding some well written books about the matter.

One of those books that I recently read is The Toxic Sandbox (2007).  It is a quick read at only 175 pages.  The format of the book is ideal for parents–highly organized with subject matter separated into chapters and sections and often easily ID’d by bold questions.  The book is also based on solid research and written by a mom who has personal experience with toxins affecting her child (in her case, lead).  You can skip to exactly what interests you and get the basic information you need to know about the dangers and how to protect your children.  This book could easily be read or skimmed by a busy parent in a day or two.

The author, Libby McDonald, covers six toxins in six chapters:  lead, mercury, plastics (including BPA and phthalates), PCBs and flame retardants (PBDE’s), air pollution, and pesticides.  I found the PCB/PBDE chapter especially interesting, as it’s something I’m not as familiar with.  Here are some of my favorite excerpts and facts from the book:

• Lead is so dangerous because it masquerades as calcium, allowing it to cross the blood brain barrier.  Because babies’ and toddlers’ brains crave calcium in their effort to develop, until children are around six years old they can absorb three to four times more lead than an adult.

Lead in vitamins

The FDA reported in 2007 that many brands of vitamins contain lead.  Sadly, the vitamins found to have lead were designed for pregnant women and children, who are especially susceptible to the dangerous effects of lead.  I wish I’d heard about it back then, as we have given one of the brands with the highest lead–Nature’s Plus Animal Parade–to my children.  Nature’s Plus is a brand sold mostly in natural foods stores, yet again more evidence that just because it’s sold at Whole Foods and has a natural label, doesn’t mean it’s natural or safe.  The brand of prenatal vitamins I took while pregnant, Rainbow Light, also had alarmingly high levels.  It seems as though the lead is getting into many of the vitamins the same way lead gets into our food–via the soil.  I haven’t found anything solid explaining how vitamins end up containing lead though.  While the FDA does not consider any of these vitamins unsafe, several studies have shown that lead levels below the CDC’s recommendation of 10 micrograms/deciliter of blood are dangerous for children (see the sites worth visiting below for some examples).  In fact, many doctors and scientists believe that there is no safe level of lead for children.

Bill that bans lead and phthalates passed!

President Bush has signed the bill that I previously mentioned that would ban lead and phthalates from children’s toys.  Yay!

Bill passes House

The House voted 424-1 yesterday to ban lead and six phthalates from children’s products.  The lead standards would be the toughest in the world, targeting products designed for children 12 and under.  The bill would also double the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission by 2014 and give it new authority to monitor testing procedures and impose penalties on violators.  The Senate is expected to pass the bill as early as this week.

It finally happened to us

I was naive to think that we wouldn’t be affected. But sure enough, it happened to us just last week. I found out that some of the toys we owned had been recalled due to the use of lead-based paint.