Lead in Children's Products
Lead, cadmium, and phthalates should not be allowed in
children’s products due to their potential for serious health impacts on kids and here’s why.
Chemicals Don’t Always Stay in the Products
Toys and other children’s products can contain a variety of chemicals of concern, especially as the chemicals are not always chemically bound to the products. When children put these products into their mouths, some of these chemicals may enter their bodies through contact with saliva. Some chemicals may also be released directly into the air and house dust that children breathe.
Children Are The Most Vulnerable and Laws Don’t Adequately Protect Them
Because children’s bodies are growing and developing, they are more vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals
than adults. Even small amounts of a chemical can impact a child’s ability to reach his or her full potential.
Safety regulations for today’s toys and other products designed for kids inadequately addresses the presence
of chemicals linked to harmful health and developmental impacts for children.
The Washington Legislature should pass the Children's Safe Products Act of 2008!
Learn about the Children's Safe Products Act >
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Developmental Impacts of Chemical Exposures
Lead
Lead is a heavy metal that is used in a wide variety of children’s products. It is often used as a stabilizer in PVC/vinyl products and for pigmentation in paint, rubber, plastics, and ceramics. Lead was detected in 35% of the approximately 1,200 toys and kid’s products recently tested by the Washington Toxics Coalition, the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition and many other environmental health organizations (www.HealthyToys.org). 17% of the products had lead levels above the 600 parts per million (ppm) federal recall standard used for lead paint.
Children’s Health Concerns:
• Lead impacts brain development, causing learning and developmental problems. Impacts may include decreased IQ scores, shorter attention spans, and delayed learning. When children are exposed to lead, the developmental and nervous system consequences of lead exposure are irreversible.
• Scientists have found there is no safe level of lead for children—even the smallest amount affects children’s ability to learn. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that lead in toys and children’s products not exceed 40 ppm, a trace amount.
Inadequate regulations:
The ongoing recalls of millions of toys for dangerous levels of lead in paint have demonstrated that current regulations are not protecting our children by keeping unsafe products out of stores and our homes. A 30-year old federal law limits lead in paint on children’s toys to 600 ppm. Even worse, there are no legal restrictions in Washington state on the widespread use of lead as a stabilizer additive in plastics like vinyl, or on the use of lead in jewelry. Washington and eighteen other states limit lead in packaging materials, such as shopping bags and product wrappings, but these restrictions do not yet apply to the products inside the packaging.
References
ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry). 2005. Toxicological Profile for Lead. CAS #7439-92-1.
California Legislature 2007. Assembly Bill 1681 at http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/LeadInJewelry.cfm accessed October 30, 2007.
Code of Federal Regulations 2007. Ban of Lead-Containing Paint and Certain Consumer Products Bearing Lead Containing Paint, Title 16, Pt. 1303.
European Union 2003. Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment Official Journal L 037, 13/02/2003 P. 0019 - 0023.
Federal Register 2007. Children's Jewelry Containing Lead; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Request for Comments and Information Federal Register 72:5 January 9, 2007 pp. 920-922.
Gilbert S. 2004. A Small Dose of Toxicology: The Health Effects of Common Chemicals. CRC Press, New York.
Illinois General Assembly 2006. Illinois Public Act 094-0879 at http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=094-0879
Accessed October 30, 2007.
Lanphear B. et al. 2005. Low-level environmental lead exposure and children’s intellectual function: an international pooled analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives 113(7):894-899.
Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse (TPCH). 2007. An Assessment of Heavy Metals in Packaging: Screening Results Using a Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer. Available at http://www.toxicsinpackaging.org/adobe/TPCH_Final_Report_June_2007.pdf. Accessed October 30, 2007.
"Protecting Children from Lead-Tainted Imports". Testimony of Dana Best, MD, MPH, FAAP on Behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics to Congress. September 20, 2007. Available online from the AAP Committee on Environmental Health web site at http://www.aap.org/visit/cmte16.htm, accessed Jan. 2008.
Resources
Download our Lead, Cadmium, Phthalates Fact Sheet
Learn more - Download our fact sheets
Read about Toxic Toys in the News
Learn about our Toy Testing and the Healthy Toys Database
