Most people know about the dangers of
lead paint, especially if they have
children and an older house. What they
probably don't expect is that the toys
and trinkets they can buy today might
also have toxic levels of lead in them.
Target announced a recall of more
than 190,000 Kool Toyz-brand products
Tuesday, in part because they were
found to contain lead paint. Unfortunately,
recalls like that are hardly rare.
In November, 3,000 "Cars"
toy storage benches sold by Toys "R"
Us were recalled for the same reason
-- lead paint.
And in March, Reebok recalled 300,000
lead charm bracelets after a 4-year-old
died from lead poisoning after swallowing
one.
For people accustomed to seeing unsafe
products banned from the marketplace
discovering that some toys were made
with dangerous ingredients can be
a shock.
Lead poisoning rarely leads to death,
but it's especially dangerous because
it can often go undetected. According
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, lead poisoning can
cause learning disabilities and behavioral
problems that doctors may not associate
with a child's environment.
Once a person is diagnosed with lead
poisoning, though, the CDC, Environmental
Protection Agency and Department of
Housing and Urban Development will
try to determine the source, which
might be paint chips or dust, drinking
water from lead pipes, or a toy.
There are, in fact, two regulations
that deal with lead in household products.
The Consumer Product Safety Act effectively
bans lead paint, and the Federal Hazardous
Substances Act bans products with
high levels of accessible lead in
products children might be exposed
to.
But just because they're banned here
doesn't mean they're banned elsewhere,
and there is no official mechanism
for screening the products as they
enter the country, especially when
we're talking about billions of inexpensive
toys.
"A lot of the stuff we buy in
this country is manufactured abroad,
and they don't have the same standards,"
said Bob Clement, neighborhood services
coordinator for Roanoke's department
of Housing and Neighborhood Services.
He works with the city's Lead-Safe
Roanoke program.
The toys Target recalled were made
in China, but the toy benches sold
by Toys "R" Us came from
New York.
Unlike big-ticket, big-brand-name
items such as cars or televisions,
smaller products that don't meet U.S.
standards often slip through the cracks.
"We don't have the authority
to pre-approve products on the market,"
explained Patty Davis, spokeswoman
for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission. Instead, the CPSC relies
on private industry to essentially
police itself.
"Manufacturers, retailers, and
importers are expected to abide by
the laws of the United States,"
she said.
With symptoms easily misdiagnosed
-- doctors thought the boy who swallowed
the Reebok charm had gastroenteritis
-- parents have few ways to know whether
their children have chewed or swallowed
something with too much lead.
"I think the first thing anyone
needs to do if they have kids is have
them tested for lead," Clement
said. "I would make it part of
the kid's physical."
Beyond that, there's little a parent
can do besides keep up with the CPSC's
recall notices.
"It's not fair to a kid who
doesn't know any better to be exposed
to these conditions," Clement
said. "They're the innocent victims
in all this."
