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Schakowsky Wants Action
Against Toys with Lead
Chicago
Sun-Times
June
16, 2004
by Art Golab
Following a Sun-Times
story showing dangerous levels of lead in toys sold in gumball machines,
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) Tuesday asked the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission to take immediate action to eliminate the threat of lead in
such toys.
In a letter to Hal Stratton, chairman of the commission, Schakowsky cited
Sun-Times lab analyses that found lead levels as high as 180,000 parts per
million in trinkets sold outside major discount and grocery stores in the
Chicago area.
"This finding is particularly alarming, given that lead in paint is considered
dangerous at any level above 0.6 parts per million and lead in soil poses a
danger at any level above 400 parts per million," Schakowsky wrote.
Makers of the toys said the lead jewelry is coated to prevent the lead from
leaching out, but medical experts say that swallowing the trinkets or even
sucking on them could result in serious consequences.
Even in tiny amounts, lead can cause irreversible neurological damage, delayed
physical and mental development and attention and learning problems.
The CPSC has been conducting its own study of the toys and has reported problems
with the coatings.
"For years we've had a policy that there should be no accessible lead in a
child's product," said agency spokesman Ken Giles. "The way the jewelry industry
tried to deal with the accessibility question was to plate the jewelry, but they
have not always successfully done that."
Giles noted that his agency has negotiated several recalls of this kind of
jewelry over the past few years.
He said that the CPSC's investigation is ongoing and that the agency did not yet
have a response to Schakowsky's letter.
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