Lead-Poisoning and the CSPIA act

Lead-Poisoning poses a serious issue to us as concerned parents, citizens and jewelry artists.

We know that this can be an alarming threat to children, especially babies who love to taste everything .

The worst thing is- there is no apparent symptoms other than lethargy, poor appetite and so on among young children. While death due to this is uncommon, high level of poisoning may cause serious damage in their growth, intelligence and may bring poor results in school performances.

To be safe, it is important to wash kids' hands always before they are eating and after playing out doors. Take off their clothes and wash them if they were playing in the park or if they were inside or near old buildings. These are some of the suggestions from the Mayo clinic.

Adults who are exposed to stain glass work, glass blowing, or other such hobbies and job are at risk.

We jewelry artists need to be aware when we buy findings and other materials. Please know that there are concerned stores like Rings-things and many others that offer lead free materials.

Even though this material is not used in paints, gasoline, water pipes in USA and many other places, there may be lead based products around us that pose similar risks. Recently imported toys and art materials for kids brought this serious threat to us and a new act has been introduced.

This new act , the CPSIA ( Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) is going to be active very soon, from February 10, 2009.

Chichiboulie in her recent blog first made me aware of this issue .

In that case books from the libraries, especially older, out-of-print rare books may be banned. Parents who buy clothes and toys from garage sales or thrift shops for their growing children would be hard hit especially in an economy like this. Most of all we do not know if this will solve the problem of lead-poisoning.

Read how the Association of American Library feels about it in http://www.wo.ala.org/districtpatch/?=1322

We hear the outraged work-at-home-moms (wahm) “Due to the new law,all children books will be pulled from libraries and school shelves, as there is no exception for them. That's okay though, there is always television. Our children do not need to learn the love of reading after all.”

Another comment on the lead-poisoning issue and the act:

kaos77 January 15th, 2009 11:16 am shares her thought (http://www.wo.ala.org/districtpatch/?=1322 )

“This is absolutely NOT a joke. The geniuses we have working in government thought that it would be a good idea to test ALL items that are targeted at kids younger than 12 even though the majority of the problems we’re having are originating from China. So yes, libraries, schools, resale shops, handmade goods, yard sales, eBay, and numerous other sources of goods for children will be put at risk unless the seller can provide testing for the items being sold. I say, let’s just quit importing cheap crap from China and see if that doesn’t solve the problem.”

The effect of this act is thought provoking and I want you to take a few minutes.

June 15, 2009:

Very recently I came to know that there is a Lead Check Testing Kit available which may allow you to professionally test the lead content on any surface. If this kit works then that saves a lot of hassle and expense- as lab testing can cost over $100 or so. I personally have no experience with this kit, I have not used it. I just saw it in a catalog by Firemountain (http://www.firemountaingems.com). You may check with them if you want. I don't know if similar kits are available in the market also.

What do you think of it, I'd love to know. Please put your comments in the following form box.

Some Lead Free Toys :

After Lead-poisoning please go to the Home Page for more options. Home Page for more options.