Dear Loaine,
several volunteers have been busily searching our enquiries and library databases and the web to find some answers to your question: does anyone know a specific food, medicine or cosmetic the Burmese refugee children living in lead-safe apartments in Allen County, Indiana may be using that would contribute to BLL's that continue to hover in the mid-20's and 30's for no obvious reasons?
In 1994, a US journalist, Richard M Stapleton, published a very well researched book called "Lead is a Silent Hazard" and it has been quoted several times online as stating that "Unknown (Ayurvedic) traditional remedies" containing lead are sold in Burma [and surrounding countries].
Saper et al wrote in 2004 [Ref: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/23/2868]
"Conclusions  One of 5 Ayurvedic HMPs [herbal medicine products] produced in South Asia and available in Boston South Asian grocery stores contains potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury, and/or arsenic. Users of Ayurvedic medicine may be at risk for heavy metal toxicity, and testing of Ayurvedic HMPs for toxic heavy metals should be mandatory."
It is worth noting that according to one of our volunteers who comes from India, Ayurvedic products are also used in cooking, not just as a medicine to treat a particular illness or health problem.
This may sound ridiculous, but is it possible they have imported rice when they came from Burma? According to http://www.qmscotland.co.uk/analysis/downloads/Lead%20Poisoning.pdf "[Cattle] Feed contamination is also a potential problem, indeed contaminated rice bran from Burma was the primary source of the last major outbreak of lead poisoning in the UK in 1989." If the Burmese can export lead contaminated rice bran to the United Kingdom in 1989 for cattle feed then maybe they have continued to supply lead contaminated rice to their own people up to the present day.
There are several other consumer products used by Asian communities according to US EPA researchers Hendriksson and Bacchus in a slideshow which includes the following slide:[Ref: http://www.envirohealthhouston.org/Files/Asian.pdf - undated, probably 2003]
Socio-Cultural Factors (Environmental Risks Due to Traditional Use of Cosmetics, Folk Medicine, and Household Products)

 

SURMA – eye cosmetic with as much as 86% lead

 

KOHL – eye cosmetic with lead

 

GHASARD – brown powder (tonic) ca 16,000 ppm lead

 

BALA GOLI – round, flat black bean dissolved in “gripe”

 

water for stomach ache contains 25 ppm lead

 

PAY-LOO-AH – used by Hmong, contains lead

 

SHUNG FAH – contains lead

 

BAL JIVAN – chamcho sold with lead-coated spoon, delivers 12 ppm lead per serving (Aslam, et al. 1979)

 

[END OF SLIDE]

 

Minnesota health department has also found elevated blood lead levels in immigrants from Burma (two children in 2004 and one in 2003) and they state in their 2005 report [Ref: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/lead/reports/2010yearone.pdf]

 

"With the growth in the immigrant population, businesses are carrying more products catering to their needs and tastes. Some candies, toys, home remedies, cosmetics, jewelry and pottery contain lead."

 

You have not said for how long the children's blood lead levels have hovered around 25-35 micrograms per decilitre or how long it is since they left Burma, so I would be inclined to also consider that their blood lead levels are simply taking a long time to fall because their exposure in Burma was high and prolonged.
Pathetic as it is, the United Nations reports "No information available" regarding the phase-out of leaded gasoline in Myanmar (Burma) [Ref: www.unep.org/pcfv/Documents/LeadMatrix-Asia-Pacific.pdf]. At the suggestion of one of our Burmese volunteers, we emailed the World Environmental Organization www.world.org/weo/contact/mm office in Yangon (Rangoon) director@... to ask if leaded gasoline had been phased out in Burma, but we did not receive a reply. We also emailed the question to Michael Pierce, Materials, Logistics & Administration Manager, Myanmar Petroleum Resources Limited (MPRL) but again received no answer.
I think it is a reasonable assumption that leaded gasoline is still sold in Burma and may in fact be the only fuel available for road vehicles.
It is tragic but true that prisoners in Burma have been purposefully lead poisoned as a form of torture. We were told this in 1998 by the wife of an Executive member of the Burmese Medical Association of Australia. The couple visited California last year and met with members of the Burmese  American Medical Association BAMA] [Ref: http://www.bamamedical.org/page2.html]
so you might want to contact BAMA with any further enquiries about lead poisoning sources in Burma - send an email to Yadanar3@....
I have also sent an email to one of our volunteer writer/researchers, Anne Roberts, who happens to be on her fourth annual month-long visit to Burma as I write. I've asked her to purchase Ayurvedic medicines (any that feel particularly heavy!) for lead testing. So I may have more to report further down the track.
I hope this helps and I'll be very interested to hear what your inspectors have found and tested and if they finally locate any sources of the lead poisoning. Hopefully you'll follow up with media attention??
Yours Sincerely
Elizabeth O'Brien, Manager, Global Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS) run by The LEAD Group Inc.
PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia
Ph +61 2 9716 0132 Freecall 1800 626086
www.lead.org.au