Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments. Check your e-mail security settings to determine how attachments are handled.
Hello Angie,
You said your daughters (Lead Levels) is "3" ? At the number of 3 she
is not in any danger at this moment.
I have a question, Does your little girl put everything in her mouth
that she comes in contact with. ( Mouthing Objects?) Chewing on
furniture's, toys, eating non eatable items? If so she most likely has
Pica.
Being that China has a huge amount of Lead products, and it is used very
commonly by many who refuse to heed the warning, I too would be
extremely worried. The US doctors do not consider Chelation of Lead, for
numbers of 19 or 20, even though they should! Unfortunately US doctors
wait until Lead Level numbers get as high as "40" before doing
Chelation, I am quoting what regular MD practice. However if you find a
DAN doctor they will be more understanding of your concerns, and will
guide you in the right direction, providing the DAN doctor is a "good
one", be very "careful" choosing a DAN doctor. Some of the Chelation
Treatments are Dangerous ! Protocol for acceptable Lead Levels are
single digits. When numbers get above single digits, then be concerned.
Since your daughter has had a History of Lead Levels of 19.6,
unfortunately there is a "huge possibility" the numbers will rise again.
I live in Indiana, and it is sad that my child had to "wait until" his
Lead Levels numbers were ("40" ) before doctors would give chelation
treatment, and then the doctors only chelated for "Lead metals" and
nothing else....which was done "orally", over a period of "only" 4
weeks. I threw a fit, but got no where. A 4 week treatment will only
lower the levels. If the Lead has deposited into the bones, Lead can
leach out of the bones, and into the blood stream, causing high levels
again..
What type of behaviors are you seeing from your daughter? Does have
hyper behavior ? What symptoms are doctors looking at to think she is
retarded and not have Autism? If your daughter is non verbal at age 3,
there is a huge possibility she is Autistic.....Autism has been over
looked many times, and doctor's label the child as retarded, when in
fact they aren't.
Do you have your daughter in an early intervention program? At age 3 she
is too old for First Steps, but is old enough for Preschool. I noticed
you said she gets PT / OT.....that's wonderful. Why is she getting PT,
does she have Physical disabilities ? OT is great, so glad she is
getting this wonderul therapy!
{Please tell me more about your daughters Behaviors.} I am an Autism
Support group leader, and a member of the Autism Society of America. I
all so have completed Autism 101 course.
My little boy just had a blood work up done to check his Lead Levels,
and I should know results by Thursday. He has Pica....and Pica is so
hard to monitor, everything goes straight to his mouth that he comes in
contact with...he even licks the floor looking for the sweet taste of
Lead. Once a child get a taste of Lead, they crave it, and look for that
"high" they get from it.
My little guy has ASD / Pica.
Deborah Bock - ASA / ASI
--- In LeadedKids@yahoogroups.com, "jamie_angela" <jamieangiejacob@...>
wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I have a daughter that is 3 years old. We adopted her from China at 11
> months. After having her in our arms for one month, she had her first
> pediatric appt...a blood draw...and found she had a lead level of 19.6
-
> no chelation necessary, they said, because her level was not 20.
> So...being naive about the whole thing, I never thought twice. Until
> we began noticing that she wasn't developing. We now have a 3 year old
> that does not walk, talk, or communicate except for whining. (She has
> had non-stop PT, OT and Speech therapies). Dr.s have negated any of
> the "typical" syndromes like autism, Rhett, etc. However, there is
> one dr. that is looking at chelation. Her lead level is 3, but I have
> no doubt that it is in her body, and who knows how high her level was
> in China before we got her. My feeling is right now that she has
> suffered mental retardation because of the lead, and that can't be
> reversed. But...
> Is chelation worthwhile? Any positive results out there?
> Thank you for your thoughts,
> Angie, Michigan
>
Hello,
I have a daughter that is 3 years old. We adopted her from China at 11
months. After having her in our arms for one month, she had her first
pediatric appt...a blood draw...and found she had a lead level of 19.6 -
no chelation necessary, they said, because her level was not 20.
So...being naive about the whole thing, I never thought twice. Until
we began noticing that she wasn't developing. We now have a 3 year old
that does not walk, talk, or communicate except for whining. (She has
had non-stop PT, OT and Speech therapies). Dr.s have negated any of
the "typical" syndromes like autism, Rhett, etc. However, there is
one dr. that is looking at chelation. Her lead level is 3, but I have
no doubt that it is in her body, and who knows how high her level was
in China before we got her. My feeling is right now that she has
suffered mental retardation because of the lead, and that can't be
reversed. But...
Is chelation worthwhile? Any positive results out there?
Thank you for your thoughts,
Angie, Michigan
You also can ensure that a child's diet is protective:
Make sure kids get four to six small meals per day (it is easier to absorb lead on an empty stomach).
Give children plenty of iron-rich foods (normal levels of iron protect against the harmful effects of lead). Iron-rich foods include red meats, fish, and chicken, iron-fortified cereals, raisins, prunes, and other dried fruits.
Make sure kids get calcium-rich foods (calcium reduces lead absorption). Foods high in calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, spinach, kale, collard greens, and other green leafy vegetables.
More Search results on lead at Andrew Weil M.D. http://206.188.28.100/search?site=my_collection&client=my_collection&proxystylesheet=my_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&q=Lead&x=23&y=9
Andrew Weil M.D. also wrote The Healthy Kitchen with Rosie Daley. It is more than just recipes.
Lead poisoning is said to be the most common environmental illness of children in the US. The incidence varies with age, socioeconomic status, the population of a given community, race, and the age of the home.http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic293.htm
Chelation Therapy for Childhood Lead Poisoning: Does Excretion Equal Efficacy ?http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/DDIL/chelation.htm
Chelation: Chelation therapy is indicated as soon as the diagnosis of severe lead toxicity is considered, even if a definitive blood lead level is not yet available. Chelation functions by binding with lead and forming a water-soluble complex that is excreted in urine. The efficacy of treatment may be monitored by postchelation decreases in blood lead concentrations, the finding of increased urine lead excretion, and the normalization of circulating delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydrase levels. http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic1269.htm
Vitamin C
Over the years, we have all heard about the hazards of lead. These include lead paint ingestion by children, lead dust inhalation by miners and metalworkers, lead in solder used in plumbing, and leaded gasoline contaminating cattle. We know that lead poisoning can cause severe mental retardation. Lead has been clearly linked with Alzheimer's disease.
We have been told to avoid lead in the home and to stop lead pollution of our environment. But we have not been told how to remove it from our bodies at home. No drugs are needed; vitamin C mega doses will do the job efficiently. Saturation, or "bowel tolerance" doses of vitamin C will chelate lead right out of a person. That is good news for everybody.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/lead.html
The book Prescription for Nutritional Healing does list Vitamin C with as helping to neutralize the effects of lead pg 488. On pages 699 thru 701 this book extols the virtues of both oral and intravenous chelation therapy for conditions involving blood flow and heavy metals. The number of oral chelation agents listed is 13. The list does include Vitamin C with . I personally love this book. If I could only have one holistic health book on my self this would be the one.
Lead poisoning is said to be the most common environmental illness of children in the US. The incidence varies with age, socioeconomic status, the population of a given community, race, and the age of the home. http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic293.htm
I also have 3 health books that mention lead poisoning: The Sav-on Health Self-Care Advisor pg 253, I picked up this free book from either a Osco, Savon or Albertsons Drug Store. The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets Lead and chronic fatigue pg 39 Lead Dangers pgs 313 & 319 Lead and Obesity pg 156 Does pool cue chalk contain lead? pg 319 Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC & James F. Balch M.D. pgs 487 - 490
Does your child's chalk contain lead? http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/chalk.asp I do not know if Crayola Sidewalk Chalk has ever been tested but, I do know it is made in China
Lead and Adults
"Both lead exposure and hypertension have been associated with cognitive impairments in older adults. Lead exposure early in life may have a long-term effect on cognitive ability and motor function, and have a carry-through effect in adult life," said lead investigator Domenic Sica, M.D., professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3033807
"Our study found the association of blood lead with cardiovascular death to be evident at levels as low as 2 μg/dL," he said. "Since 38 percent of U.S. adults had lead levels above 2 μg/dL in 19992002, the public health implications of these findings are substantial." http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3042161
Results of a study published in the March 26, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association have linked lead from thinning bones to high blood pressure among post-menopausal women. The study involved 2,165 women aged 40 to 59 who were surveyed between 1988 and 1994. Those with the highest levels of lead in their blood were 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than those with the lowest blood-levels of lead. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QA/QA244323/
Sincerely,
Micaela
P.S. Sorry, I could not include more specific information I do not want to be sued for copyright infringement.
There are no safe lead levels in children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since 1991 the agency has specified that levels higher than 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood are dangerous. Now the CDC has updated its guidelines in the wake of a new study that found that babies and young children with levels lower than 7.5 had below-average IQs. http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/lead_danger.xml
Research has found that children with levels higher than 2 mcg/dL are four times more likely to have ADHD, and experts believe that lead interferes with the body's production of the neurotransmitters in the brain that are essential for impulse control. "Kids who are already genetically predisposed to ADHD are at the greatest risk," says Parents advisor Judith Owens, MD, director of the Learning, Attention, and Behavior Clinic at Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence. "Lead probably acts as a trigger in these children." http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?catref=cat1890038&page=3&storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/1186504265235.xml
Babies and toddlers are the most vulnerable because their brains are still developing and they absorb up to 50 percent of ingested lead (adults absorb only about 10 percent). Of course, they also spend lots of time crawling on the floor and putting their hands in their mouth, and because lead tastes sweet, leaded items can be irresistible.
Even unborn babies are at risk. A pregnant woman who has lead in her system is at increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and preterm labor. But unless the exposure was recent, blood tests won't detect the toxin because lead eventually leaves the bloodstream and settles in bones. "If a woman with prior lead exposure doesn't get enough calcium in her diet, her body will pull the mineral from her bones to help her baby grow -- but lead comes with the calcium," says Michael Shannon, MD, chair of the AAP Committee on Environmental Health. Ask your obstetrician to give you the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lead risk-assessment questionnaire; if you're found to be at high risk, eating a diet high in calcium can help protect you and your baby. http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?catref=cat1890038&page=2&storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/1186504265235.xml
More lead information at Parents.com http://www.parents.com//parents/search/results.jsp?searchType=content&searchString=lead
And another one - coming from the Chinese side
Elizabeth O'Brien
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ralph Scott" <rscott@...>
To: <leadnet@...>
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 2:09 AM
Subject: [Leadnet] "For Chinese children lead can be inescapable"
>From Scientific American.com today:
----------
August 03, 2007
For Chinese children lead can be inescapable
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING (Reuters) - Parents around the world may have been shocked this week
when 1.5 million Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys were recalled because of
excessive lead content, but for mums and dads in China lead poisoning is
just a fact of life.[snip]
But if Beijing was worried about Chinese children being affected, that was
not reflected in state-run media on Friday, which were silent about Mattel's
recall. [snip]
China has responded to rising consumer expectations by setting stricter
standards for lead in toys, most recently introducing new labeling rules.
But imposing those standards on the country's vast and fragmented toy sector
is difficult.
China makes 75 percent of the world's toys, according to the national
chamber of light industry, and many of the thousands of producers are small
and resistant to regulation.
They make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that -- if regular news
reports are a guide -- often have a lead content well above government-set
limits.
A 2005 report in a Beijing newspaper cited estimates that 60 percent of
Chinese-made toys used paint with lead above internationally accepted
limits.
The China Toy Association would not answer questions about the problem.
[snip]
Feng [Feng Guoqiang, a childhood development specialist at Peking
University's Health Science Centre] said that toys are not the biggest
threat. China has phased out leaded petrol, but house paint, old pipes and
buildings and belching factories are still big sources of lead.
A study of Chinese cities in 2004 found that 10.5 percent of children had
lead levels in their blood of at least 100 microgram's per liter -- a level
considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization. [snip]
----------
Full story, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/2zd75p
----------
Ralph Scott
Community Projects Director
Alliance for Healthy Homes
P.O. Box 75941
Washington, DC 20013
202-739-0881; rscott@...; www.afhh.org
Working for affordable healthy housing for all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A blank message to these addresses performs the following -
Leadnet-on@... subscribes you to the list.
Leadnet-off@... unsubscribes you from the list.
Leadnet-switch@... toggles you to/from the fancy digest version.
Leadnet-vacation@... toggles you to/from the vacation list.
Post your message to the list by sending it to Leadnet@....
To contact the list owner, send your message to
Leadnet-list-owner@....
Here's another excellent article on this issue.
Elizabeth O'Brien
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Neltner" <neltner@...>
To: <leadnet@...>
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 12:38 PM
Subject: [Leadnet] Bid to Root Out Lead Trinkets Falters in U.S.
August 6, 2007
Bid to Root Out Lead Trinkets Falters in U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/06toys.html?pagewanted=2
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/06toys.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp
> &_r=1&hp
By ERIC LIPTON and LOUISE STORY
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 - Despite a two-year effort to eliminate the threat of
poisonous lead in inexpensive children's jewelry, hundreds of thousands of
tainted items are still being sold across the United States, the federal
government has found.
Inspections by the Consumer Product Safety Commission of 85 pieces of
jewelry collected since last fall from retailers and importers determined
that 20 percent still posed a potential poisoning hazard.
Separate surveys by health officials or lead experts in Ohio, Massachusetts
and Maryland found even higher percentages.
The unannounced federal inspections also left no doubt about the primary
source of the threat: of the 17.9 million pieces of jewelry items pulled
from the market since the start of 2005, 95 percent were made in China.
Numerous hazardous products imported from China - including toxic
ingredients put into dog food, tainted toothpaste, faulty tires and toys
coated in lead paint - have been recalled. But the problem with the
children's jewelry, persisting after two years, reveals just how difficult
it may be to resolve such problems.
Federal officials said that they have made progress in curtailing the lead
threat in children's jewelry, but that they need more enforcement powers,
like the ability to impose fines or even criminal charges against repeat
offenders. Scott Wolfson, a spokesman for the consumer safety commission,
said, "We want to get to a point of not having to do recall after recall,
and simply make the marketplace safe."
The hazardous jewelry has been brought onto the market by big-name companies
like Mattel, Juicy Couture and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment,
which included 746,621 lead-contaminated "bonus charms"
in a Shirley Temple movie package. But scores of small importers like Really
Useful Products, a company with six employees based in Darien, Ill., also
delivered children's jewelry to national retailers with dangerous levels of
lead.
Internal company and government documents released to The New York Times
last week by the federal consumer protection agency, in response to a
Freedom of Information Act request, detail the recent crackdown, offering an
inside look at how gaps in vigilance by importers in the United States
allowed these contaminated low-price products to hit the market.
The importers, in the commission's documents, often assert that their
contracts prohibit jewelry with elevated levels of lead. But by failing to
test a large enough sample of the delivered goods - not just at the start of
production, but regularly as new batches are produced - these companies
still ended up selling hazardous products, the documents show.
Jewelry is perhaps the most dangerous place for lead because children can
swallow an entire ring or pendant, causing acute poisoning, which can cause
respiratory failure, seizures and even death, whereas neurological damage
and learning deficiencies are often associated with exposure to lead paint.
Many children also tend to suck on jewelry or put it in their mouths,
allowing lead to be absorbed into their bloodstream.
From 2000 to 2005, about 20,000 children turned up in emergency rooms after
ingesting jewelry, according to a hospital surveillance program by the
agency, though it is not know how many of those cases involved lead. These
cheap products, made of lead because it is an inexpensive metal filler, also
easily fall apart, making it even easier for a child to swallow a small
part.
That is just what happened in 2003, when doctors in Oregon found a lead
medallion that had been purchased from vending machine in the stomach of a
young boy who had complained of abdominal cramps and diarrhea.
And last year, Jarnell Brown, a 4-year-old in Minneapolis, swallowed a
heart-shaped charm that had been given away by Reebok International as a
sales incentive on its children's footwear. Jarnell died after suffering
vomiting, seizures and respiratory arrest. During the autopsy, a charm
imprinted with the Reebok logo was removed from his stomach.
"It's just outrageous," said Lisa Smestad, a environmental health official
in Minneapolis who investigated the boy's death. "How can we be allowing
products that are targeted and marketed to children that have such a
potential to poison them?"
Children's advocates say that neither the federal government nor the private
sector has done enough to ensure that jewelry entering the market is not
contaminated with lead. Far broader federal tests are necessary, they say,
backed up by stiff penalties and even criminal charges if companies, seeking
to maximize profits by buying from the lowest-cost suppliers, continue to
import contaminated children's jewelry.
"If a company is gong to put their label on it, they need to be able to
guarantee these products are not going to cause harm to consumers,"
said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer
Federation of America. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been
trying to crack down on lead jewelry since February 2005, when it announced
that any children's jewelry that had more than .06 percent lead by weight -
and that was accessible to a child who might suck on the item or simply
touch it - would be considered a hazard, and subject to recall.
After several high-profile recalls in 2006 as many products on the market
failed to meet this standard the commission last fall began to send a team
of investigators out to companies that import or sell children's jewelry.
Inspectors collected and tested samples - finding lead problems one out of
five times, confirming the similar recent surveys by health officials and
children's advocates in Massachusetts, Maryland and Ohio, which found lead
contamination in children's jewelry as often as 40 percent of the time.
Based on these tests, one federal official said it was fair to estimate that
the number of contaminated children's jewelry items on the market remains in
the hundreds of thousands.
This federal enforcement effort has been driving, in part, the recent surge
in recalls this year of lead jewelry. Indeed, jewelry made up three-quarters
of all lead-related recalls of children's products in the last three years.
On Jan. 11, for example, an inspector arrived unannounced at the
Cockeysville, Md., headquarters of A&A Global Industries, a supplier of
rub-on tattoos, stickers, rings, necklaces and other knick-knacks stored in
plastic eggs in vending machines nationwide at stores like Wal-Mart, Toys
"R" Us, Safeway and Kmart.
Since a 2004 recall of lead-tainted jewelry it had sold, A&A hired a new
independent testing company to monitor its imports, reduced the number of
jewelry styles in its stock and set its standard at .04 percent lead by
weight, lower than the commission's standard, company documents show.
Nonetheless, the spot check in March found that A&A's Groovy Grab bracelets
contained lead at a level more than 100 times above the limit, leading to an
April recall of 4 million bracelets sold over the previous 16 months,
featuring designs like smiley faces, flames and Chinese symbols.
Executives at A&A did not return calls seeking comment. But in statements to
the federal investigators, Brian S. Kovens, the executive vice president,
said that he rejected any vendors that failed its initial lead tests and
performed spot checks on certain pieces of jewelry before they were shipped.
But ensuring that the jewelry is consistently lead safe is generally left up
to the Chinese vendors.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, a division of the News
Corporation, offered a free DVD to people who returned silver-coated metal
charms that contained lead in the spring of 2006.
But many of the charms may still sit on children's dressers. Fifteen months
after Fox's recall of the 746,621 charms, only about 50,000 - or
6.7 percent - of the charms were sent back, according to a Fox spokesman..
"We wanted them all back, we did everything we could do to get them back,"
said Steven Feldstein, a Fox spokesman, adding that many of the charms were
probably thrown away.
The Fox charms were imported by Corporate Images of Newbury Park, Calif.,
and manufactured at a factory called ChengXing Hardware Ornament Factory in
DongGuang, China. Mr. Feldstein of Fox said he thought Fox had stopped
working with Corporate Images. But Corporate Images lists Fox as a client on
its Web site. Corporate Images, its site promises, offers "cost-saving
efforts that are truly remarkable."
Prodded by the Sierra Club, an environmental group that has focused on
combating lead hazards, the product safety commission is now considering a
formal ban on lead in children's jewelry, instead of simply setting an
enforcement standard.
Dozens of letters have been sent to the commission urging it to adopt this
ban immediately.
Among the 195 pages of comments submitted this year about the proposed ban,
only one speaks in firm opposition: a March 2007 letter from the government
of China.
Jewelry with lead is not a danger, Guo LiSheng, a deputy director general at
China's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine, wrote in a March letter to the commission, as long as it is
covered by a protective coating.
The regulation, he argued, was unnecessary and would "increase the cost of
producing and inspection of the manufacturers of children's metal jewelry,
and bring unnecessary obstacles to trade."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A blank message to these addresses performs the following -
Leadnet-on@... subscribes you to the list.
Leadnet-off@... unsubscribes you from the list.
Leadnet-switch@... toggles you to/from the fancy digest version.
Leadnet-vacation@... toggles you to/from the vacation list.
Post your message to the list by sending it to Leadnet@....
To contact the list owner, send your message to
Leadnet-list-owner@....
The following article from the Chicago Tribune points out that it is difficult to know whether there's been an actual increase in lead used in toys in the last couple of decades or just an increase in testing in the US.
I should also make it clear to non-US residents that just because your country has had no lead product recalls or a paltry number of lead recalls (eg Australia has had 12 compared to 135 in the US), doesn't mean the consumer products that your child is in contact with are lead-safe.
Until such time as there are adequate regulations in every country and they are actually enforced, the proof of the lead-safety of products is, sadly, in your child's blood lead result so keep up the regular blood lead testing, especially if your child has a high level of hand to mouth activity or mouths everything.
Once you know the blood lead level, if it is above 2 micrograms per decilitre (or 0.1 micromoles per litre or 20 micrograms per litre) then I would first ask for assistance from your health department to tell you where the lead sources are likely to be or even (if the level is above 5 micrograms per decilitre) to test your home and other places your child goes, but if these options don't work out, it would be far better to test suspect sources yourself - even if you have to take out a loan! - than to risk allowing the exposure to continue because you don't know where the lead is coming from.
See www.lead.org.au for a DIY lead test kit and our newly updated info on lead in consumer products.
Why lead-tainted Chinese goods slip through despite U.S. recalls
Experts say latest unsafe imports point to need for systemic reforms in both nations
By Evan Osnos, Michael Oneal and Maurice Possley | Tribune staff reporters
August 4, 2007
QINGDAO, China Brightly colored children's bracelets and necklaces line the display case of a Chinese manufacturer in this factory town. Adorned with mini school buses, sandals and other charms, the jewelry sits ready to be sold to foreign and domestic buyers. It also contains lead.
While the U.S. government in July issued a recall for similar items, branded as Essentials for Kids, officials at the factory said they knew nothing of it.
And because the CJ Accessories factory sells the jewelry to different companies with different brands, identical lead-tainted products could be on store shelves under other names.
The scene illustrated just one of many factors that undermine efforts to prevent unsafe goods from reaching U.S. shores, even after a dangerous product has been identified.
Three decades after the federal government significantly toughened regulations on lead in children's products, American companies have yet to find a way to successfully screen the flood of imported products for the toxic metal.
The federal watchdog charged with ensuring they do so is overwhelmed and often ineffective. And the growing list of lead recalls of children's products underscores how the metal, slathered on with paint or mixed in with other raw materials, is more pervasive than many American consumers ever imagined.
Mattel Inc. sent parents scurrying for the toy box last week with the recall of nearly 1 million Fisher-Price-brand Elmo, Big Bird and Dora products. Before that it was 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway cars. And not long before that, it was 2,000 pieces of Land of Nod children's furniture, as well as hundreds of cribs and about 3,000 toy-storage chests from Delta Enterprise Corp., which calls itself the nation's largest seller of cribs.
But the recall by toy giant Mattel raised the issue to a new and unsettling level, in part because of the company's good reputation for quality control. It remains unclear how lead found its way into the company's popular toys. And that is causing both fear and frustration from playrooms to boardrooms.
"I don't think we understand yet what needs to be done," said Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association.
The number of product recalls for lead is growing as imports surge, especially from China. A Tribune analysis of data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees such recalls, shows that while there have been 135 recalls for lead content since 1977, a total of 70 of them, or 52 percent, have occurred since January 2004. Of those, 46 were for lead metal and 24 were for lead paint.
One study by chemists at Ashland University in Ohio tested Chinese-made jewelry from 10 retail chains and discovered that the average lead content far exceeded the federal limit.
The question arises: Are more products being made with lead or are consumers, companies and regulators simply looking more closely? That is difficult to answer, but some experts believe it is mainly a result of the increased scrutiny prompted by a huge jewelry recall in July 2004. The safety commission recalled 150 million pieces of children's jewelry imported from India and sold in vending machines.
"The activists have sunk their teeth into this one, and the CPSC has responded to the pressure," said Christian Warren, historian at the New York Academy of Medicine and author of a book on the history of lead poisoning. "We are more vigilant. ... The question is how to get primary prevention. How do we beef up surveillance? That's a thorny question where it's so easy to change the manufacturing process on the fly."
How the system breaks down
The countries where America's toys are made also are places where paint often still contains dangerously high levels of lead.
Scott Clark, a University of Cincinnati environmental health professor, and his research team tested a variety of brands of paints from China, Malaysia and India, and found that more than 75 percent of the samples had lead levels exceeding U.S. regulations. Lead is added to paint to make it lustrous and durable. Because of lax manufacturing and safety standards in overseas plants, it sometimes is applied to toys imported into the U.S.
In countries where products are made for consumption in the U.S. and the developing world, lead can easily bleed over from one batch of products to the other, according to Warren. It might be as easy as a worker not cleaning out a production vessel thoroughly enough between batches.
The system breaks down in other ways as well. Rare visits to two Chinese factories that produced recalled jewelry found no evidence that U.S. recalls made an impact.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has trouble simply contacting foreign factories to let them know their products are recalled. Typically, the agency sends letters in English and Chinese or e-mail to the foreign factory. But CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said the agency sometimes can't find companies' contact information.
Further, the agency takes no steps to track how many manufacturers it reaches successfully or whether foreign factories continue to export the goods to the U.S.
"We haven't received any information. I would know about it," said Li Huanpeng, manager of the Weiyi Metal Ornament factory in the southeastern city of Dongguan, which produced some of the 100,000 pieces of children's jewelry recalled by Ohio-based Tween Brands in May. Weiyi disputed the Tween Brands and safety commission finding that the products in question contained lead. Li, the manager, said they do not ship products containing lead to the U.S.
Inside Weiyi's showroom, the company still prominently displays goods similar to the ones in the recall, including shiny pendants and bracelets emblazoned with the stars of Disney's made-for-TV hit "High School Musical."
The recalled trinkets, which had been selling at Limited Too and Justice stores for $2 to $10, were found to carry doses of lead "toxic if ingested by young children," according to the CPSC notice.
Tween Brands said it no longer uses the factory.
"We detected the problem ourselves through our own independent testing, but there are innumerable mom-and-pop shops who might still have goods like these on their shelves," said Bob Atkinson, vice president of investor relations for Tween Brands.
Part of the problem for consumers is that, although one might expect a U.S. importer to alert its Chinese manufacturer in case of a recall, that doesn't always happen.
For instance, Future Industries of Cliffwood Beach, N.J., and the safety commission jointly recalled 20,000 items made by CJ Accessories last month because of high lead content. But Future Industries owner Morey Serouya said he did not need to alert the Chinese manufacturer because while the product violated U.S. regulations on lead, it did not violate their contract, which had not specified limits on lead.
Serouya, who said he has stopped using CJ Accessories, wondered whether the same items are being sold in the U.S. and abroad despite the recall because numerous American companies might buy from the same overseas factory. "There are probably 10 or 15 importers in the U.S. that might have bought the same product from the same place [and then] marketed it with different packaging," he said.
Vallese said the safety commission is trying to tighten the recall system and needs more help from China and other governments to police factories found to be making unsafe goods. "There is a responsibility on their end to address those issues that are happening within their borders," she said.
But critics say the safety commission has failed to take steps that could prevent recalled goods from returning to the market. For instance, the commission typically does not disclose the names of factories when an American manufacturer's goods are recalled.
Vallese said that if there is a request to publicly release a name, the companies have 30 days to file an objectionand most object, primarily for competitive reasons. The names are submitted to the CPSC, but on a confidential basis, she said. With last week's Mattel recall, she said the company provided the name of the manufacturer but, "as the CPSC has an open and active investigation, that information is not available to the public."
Such secrecy protects manufacturers instead of consumers, said Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, whose office has investigated dangerous children's products. Publicizing the names of offending factories could help U.S. companies avoid a manufacturer with a history of recalls, she said.
"The CPSC has to do a better job of making sure that U.S. retailers and importers and distributors know that, 'Look, there is a problem at this manufacturer, make sure that you don't have a problem there,'" Madigan said. "It's basic. It's common sense."
'Still a missing piece'
Democrats in Congress, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have introduced legislation aimed at bolstering the CPSC's enforcement powers and resources. But Durbin acknowledged that government regulation is not the complete answer.
"I have a friend, a major businessman who imports from China," Durbin said. "I asked him how he handled this, and he said, 'First, do your best to know who you are dealing with. But with all the safeguards, you will never know if that vat of paint has lead in it until it is too late.'"
Keithley said the toy association "very much supports" the efforts on Capitol Hill and wants to help develop industry protocols for the frequency and intensity of product testing.
But he also said with dismay that Mattel already was doing much of what Durbin is proposing and was well ahead of most companies in terms of testing, certifying and labeling products coming from China.
"I suspect what we're learning is that there's still a missing piece" when it comes to defining what needs to be done to protect U.S. consumers, Keithley said.
Experts in both lead poisoning and manufacturing advocate increased testing and inspections of suppliers' factories. "What is most needed is better diligence on suppliers and subsuppliers, including ... surprise audits or inspections by qualified people who know the environment in China, the tricks that are played," Dane Chamorro, regional director in Shanghai of Control Risks, a global consulting company, wrote in an e-mail.
He said it is not uncommon for suppliers to provide excellent samples of raw materials to obtain a contract, but then to later substitute substandard materials to increase profit margins. "Once they rope you in, they can cut back," he wrote. "And a lot of Chinese companies will do anything to cut costs."
Similar problems extend deep into the Chinese supply chain, where it can become even harder to monitor quality.
Spencer Hutchens, a risk-management expert at RAM Consulting, a unit of global testing company Intertek Group plc., said suppliers often have little patience for or knowledge of U.S. regulations. "I think the basic problem in China is an inability to develop good manufacturing processes and adhere to them," Hutchens said.
In the U.S., the economics are driven by constant pressure for low prices.
"A lot of people don't realize the price of toys has gone down probably 100-fold," said Conrad Winkler, a principal in the Chicago office of consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. "That creates cheap toys but also pressure to use cheaper raw materials like lead paint."
Some experts now predict that the embarrassing recalls will create new pressuresthis time for better oversight. The cost of recalls and adverse consumer reaction could force the industry to police itself more vigilantly.
In late 2006, The Land of Nod, based in Northbrook, Ill., announced a voluntary recall of 2,000 pieces of children's furniture that had been manufactured in Mexico between September 2003 and August 2006 because they were covered in lead paint. The company has declined to name the maker of that furniture.
But it did say in a statement that it is no longer buying products from the manufacturer.
Because of this recall, the company said, it has stepped up quality control. For instance, "products are tested for lead before each initial order ships."
In an effort to pressure vendors into paying more attention, Illinois and California have passed laws that penalize anyone who manufactures, ships or sells lead-tainted children's jewelry. The Illinois law goes into effect in January. The safety commission has proposed a similar regulation nationwide, but it has not yet been approved.
Rumors of tougher enforcement have started to filter back to CJ Accessories, one of scores of small Korean-owned costume-jewelry makers in Qingdao, on China's coast. The factory, formerly known as Choice Inc., has 130 workers and sends 90 percent of its products to the U.S., said deputy manager Cho Jung Yeon.
On a recent afternoon, teams of young women sat hunched over tables, producing the same small silver-colored snowman earrings that had been recalled by Future Industries. Cho said the factory makes the snowman earrings the same way it did before the recall, using a range of metals including lead. The factory can produce unleaded jewelry if a customer requests, he added.
If the U.S. clamps down, Cho said, his company will focus on sending products to other countries.
"Our new target [markets] are Mexico and Brazil," he said.
The August 2007 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives is now available. Below are highlights of a few papers that may be of particular interest to the news media.
Stress Modifies Lead Effect on Hypertension Lead exposure and psychological stress have been independently associated with hypertension in various populations, and animal studies suggest that when they co-occur, their effects may be exacerbated. Researchers examined whether psychological stress modifies the impact of cumulative lead exposure (measured as bone lead levels) on hypertension and blood pressure in Boston (Massachusetts) area community-exposed men participating in the Normative Aging Study. These are the first analyses to look at interactive effects of stress and lead on hypertension in humans. The results suggest that the effect of lead on hypertension is most pronounced among highly stressed individuals, independent of demographic and behavioral risk factors. View Article <http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/10002/abstract.html> Childhood Blood Lead Levels and Educational Outcomes Childhood lead poisoning remains a critical environmental health concern. To determine whether lead levels in early childhood are related to educational achievement as measured by performance on end-of-grade (EOG) testing, researchers linked test data for 4th-grade students to blood lead surveillance data for seven North Carolina counties. They found that discernible impact of blood lead levels on EOG testing is demonstrated for early childhood blood lead levels as low as 2 ΅g/dL; a blood lead level of 5 ΅g/dL is associated with a decline in reading and mathematics scores. Early childhood lead exposures appear to have more impact on performance on the reading than on the mathematics portions of the tests. View Article <http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/9994/abstract.html>
Media may also be interested in EHPs news articles. Among this months articles is a discussion of how environmental factors interact with mental illness (see Environmental Connections: A Deeper Look into Mental Illness <http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/115-8/focus-abs.html> ). Another feature examines the growing worldwide trend against public smoking (see A Change in the Air: Smoking Bans Gain Momentum Worldwide <http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/115-8/spheres-abs.html> ).
*You received this e-mail as a member of the working media and a registrant on our press page. EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you no longer wish to get our press releases, simply let us know by responding to this e-mail.
I noticed in an ad for Catalyst on Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Channel 2 will screen a story about Californian Condors and since they were nearly wiped out by lead poisoning and the remaining few have been undergoing chelation therapy, I figured that these important details will be mentioned in the story (though they are not mentioned in the promo below).
The California Condor flies again, Brain Overload, The Sun in Stereo, Meet Palaeo-Artist Dr. Anne Musser
Thursday, 26 July 2007
The California Condor flies again
Imagine being born in captivity, spending your whole life constrained, and then one day youre set loose in the big wild world.
Well, California Condor Number 79 will find out what thats like, when shes given her first taste of freedom.
From the magnificent mountains of the USAs west coast, Dr Jonica Newby reports on the moving tale of how a small band of conservationists dreamed of seeing this giant of the Pleistocene flying once more above the Californian coastline.
This is a story of ancient mystery and intrigue, of courage and fear, and above all, of an incredible battle to bring a prehistoric species back to life.
Reporter Dr. Jonica Newby Producer Paul Faint Researcher: Maria Ceballos
Dear all,
Rick Nevin has done some phenomenal research into the long-term behavioural
outcomes in society when children are exposed to lead (mainly from leaded
gasoline and lead paint. Please find below his latest research results. What
can any of us do to bring this research to the attention of those people who
can so easily decide to stop the sale of leaded gasoline in the world and
leaded house paint and start helping families to clean up the residue from
historical use of leaded gasoline and paint?
RegardsYours 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
----- Original Message -----
From: "Titus, Laura (NCHH)" <ltitus@...>
To: <leadnet@...>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 4:18 AM
Subject: [Leadnet] New Research Shows Early Childhood Exposure to Lead
New Research Shows Early Childhood Exposure to Lead
Can Result in Juvenile and Adult Criminal Behavior
Lead Exposure Explains International Property and Violent Crime Trends and
Differences in USA City Murder Rates
Columbia, MD - Are children exposed to lead at a young age more likely to
commit crimes as juveniles and adults? A new study says yes.
Rick Nevin, an independent economic consultant and National Center for
Healthy
Housing (NCHH) senior advisor, compared trends in childhood lead exposure to
crime rate trends over several decades in nine countries: USA, Britain,
Canada, France, Australia, Finland, Italy, West Germany and New Zealand. In
all countries, he found that the greater the exposure, the higher the crime
rate. Nevin's analysis of USA city murder rates also shows that murder is
especially associated with more severe childhood lead poisoning.
"The research shows a clear link between lead exposure and crime, not just
in
this country but eight others as well. Nevin's work demonstrates the need
for
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize rules which will help
prevent childhood exposure to lead during the renovation, painting and
remodeling of older homes," said Rebecca Morley, NCHH Executive Director.
About 38 million U.S. homes still contain lead-based paint, which was banned
for residential use in 1978. Of those, about 4 million are renovated each
year, exposing many children to significant hazards when contractors fail to
follow lead-safe work practices. In the state of Maine, for example, 65
percent of the lead poisoning cases are the result of unsafe renovations of
older homes. The EPA rule that governs these practices has been delayed for
over a decade due, in part, to industry opposition. According to the most
recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
310,000
children in this country suffer from lead poisoning.
"Young children are being unnecessarily exposed to lead and, as a result,
they
later suffer behavioral problems and learning disabilities," said Morley.
Lead contaminates household dust ingested by children as they crawl and
engage
in normal hand-to-mouth activity. Ingested lead travels through the
bloodstream to the developing brain where elevated blood lead causes many
neurological effects that can impair IQ, learning and behavior later in
life,
numerous studies have shown. Use of lead in paint in the U.S. peaked in the
first half of the 20th century before the 1978 ban. Per capita use of lead
in
gasoline surged in the USA after World War II and rose at a slower rate in
nations with lower per capita gasoline use. A phased-in ban of lead in
gasoline in the USA began in the early 1980s.
A summary of key findings from the Nevin study are available on the NCHH
website at http://nchh.org/Nevin2007LeadandCrimeStudy.pdf.
Highlights of the study appear below:
* International Lead Exposure and Crime Trends: The level of lead found in
preschoolers in the nine studied countries tracks the property and violent
crime rate trends in those countries at the time these preschoolers became
juveniles and young adults. Childhood exposure to leaded gasoline rose from
the 1930s through 1970, and all of the nations studied had rising crime
rates,
as these children became juveniles and young adults. Childhood lead exposure
fell in the USA and Canada from the mid-1970s through the early-1980s, as
lead
exposure remained high in most other industrial nations. Crime rates fell in
the 1990s in the USA and Canada, but peaked later in other nations, tracking
lead exposure trends in each nation.
* Murder and Additive Exposure to gas lead and lead paint hazards. The
1980-1994 murder rates in the United States mainly reflect trends in large
cities. The Nevin study shows that trends in air lead from gasoline explain
why the largest USA cities had such high murder rates. In the 1960s, large
cities (over a million people) had more than two times the air lead of
mid-sized cities (250,000 to a million people). Mid-sized cites had air lead
levels that were 40% higher than small cities (100-250 thousand people).
Average 1985-1994 murder rates in large cities were 57% higher than mid-size
cities, and mid-size cities had murder rates 40% higher than small cities.
The
1980s phase-out of the USA gas lead left little air lead difference by city
size, and there was little city size variation in 2000-2004 murder rates.
Nevin also shows that city differences in circa-1970 childhood lead paint
poisoning in severely deteriorated housing, and the additive effects of
paint
lead and gas lead exposure, also explain much of the variation in 1980-1994
city murder rates. Paint lead contributes to both air and lead dust through
paint deterioration, paint scraping and sanding, demolition and other
activities that generate dust from lead paint.
* Shifts in arrest rates by age group in Britain: Gas lead use rose in
Britain
after World War II (around 1946), and males born during this time had higher
offending rates twelve to fourteen years later than their counterparts born
before this increase in lead use. In the mid-1980s, British gas lead use
fell
and males born during this time had lower offending rates twelve to fourteen
years later.
* Shifts in California arrest rates by age group: In the United States, gas
lead use increased 400% between 1945 and 1955. Twenty years later, the
California juvenile index crime arrest rate increased by almost 300 percent
from 1965 to 1975. In 1975, California's juvenile index crime arrest rate
was
twice the adult rate, but juvenile offending plunged in the 1990s, tracking
the 1975-1985 decline in USA lead exposure. California's juvenile index
crime
arrest rate has been lower than the adult arrest rate since 2000.
* Shifts in overall USA arrest rates by age group: In the USA, there was a
1956 interim peak in gas lead use, when lead paint hazards were severe in
deteriorated urban slum housing built around 1900 when the lead content of
paint was extremely high. Urban renewal programs demolished much of the
oldest
and most deteriorated slums in the 1960s, and gas lead was phased out in the
early 1980s. The property crime arrest rate for youths under age 15 fell 45%
from 1970-2003, as the arrest rate for adults over 24 rose 58%. The 45% drop
in the under-15 arrest rate compares 1970 juveniles born near the mid-1950s
peak in additive exposure to lead paint hazards and gas lead versus 2003
juveniles born after the early-1980s fall in gas lead. The 58% increase in
the
over-24 arrest rate compares 1970 adults mostly born before the 1950s rise
in
gas lead (and slum crowding associated with urbanization) versus their 2003
counterparts born before the 1980s decline in gas lead.
Three things you or your contractors can do to protect your family during
home
renovations:
1. Keep lead dust away from people.
2. Use the right tools.
3. Work safely and clean up lead dust.
To find a contractor trained to work safely with lead, call 1-800-424-LEAD.
1. Keep lead dust away from people.
* Keep children and pregnant women away from the work area.
* Seal off the work area by covering floors, vents, doors and windows with
heavy plastic.
* If possible, remove furniture from the room. Cover any remaining furniture
with heavy plastic.
* 2. Use the right tools.
* Use vacuum cleaners and power tools with HEPA filters.
* If you use a power sander or grinder, be sure it has a HEPA filter as well
as a hood to trap dust.
* Never power wash or sand blast painted surfaces.
* Never use tools that create dust, chips, high heat or fumes.
* Never use open flame torches or heat guns at temperatures above 1100°F.
* Never use paint strippers that contain methylene chloride.
* 3. Work safely and clean up lead dust.
* Fix water damage that can make paint peel.
* Wet down the paint before you sand or scrape to control lead dust.
* Use heavy plastic bags to remove dust and other trash.
* After the job, wash floors and other surfaces with soap and water and
rinse
with fresh water.
* Remember lead dust can be too small to see.
* Consider testing for lead dust after the job is done. Call 1-800-424-LEAD
for a list of lead service providers.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
###
NCHH is the only national non-profit organization dedicated to developing
and
promoting practical measures to protect children from residential
environmental hazards while preserving affordable housing. NCHH develops
scientifically valid and practical strategies to make homes safe from
hazards,
to alert low- income families about housing-related health risks, and to
help
them protect their children. NCHH also works with governmental and
non-governmental organizations to develop standards and programs and guide
their implementation through insurers, lenders, federal and state laws and
regulations, community organizations, and the courts.
To read the Washington Post article, please go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR20070707010
73.html.
Phillip M. Dodge
Marketing & Development Officer
National Center for Healthy Housing
10320 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 500
Columbia, MD 21044
Phone: (443) 539-4168
Fax: (443) 539-4150
www.centerforhealthyhousing.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A blank message to these addresses performs the following -
Leadnet-on@... subscribes you to the list.
Leadnet-off@... unsubscribes you from the list.
Leadnet-switch@... toggles you to/from the fancy digest version.
Leadnet-vacation@... toggles you to/from the vacation list.
Post your message to the list by sending it to Leadnet@....
To contact the list owner, send your message to
Leadnet-list-owner@....
FYI
Elizabeth O'Brien, Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lourdes Salvador" <salvadorlourdes@...>
To: <cehncommunity@...>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 7:09 AM
Subject: [cehncommunity] Autism and 9-11: The Connection
June 30, 2007 at 09:26:45
Autism and 9-11: The Connection
by Vin LoPresti Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
What do California condors and autistic children have in common? Quite
possibly it's a need for chemical detoxification. As discussed frequently by
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vigorous environmental advocate, there's little
doubt
that mercury in the form of thimerosal (ethyl mercury) is "poisoning the
brains of children throughout the world." Kennedy rails against the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) for being "criminally negligent" on this issue.
Mercury is a neurotoxin, and allowing it to seep into the forming synapses
of
infant and toddler brains is, or should be, an act of criminal proportions.
This is a fact somewhat separate from the debate about what really "causes
autism." Given the known biotoxic effects of heavy metals like lead and
mercury, how can anyone argue, as vaccine manufactures continue to do, that
that mercury, at any level, is harmless to developing tissues of children.
Yet
that autism debate rages on, the most disingenuous of the combatants parking
themselves in the absurd, overly simplistic extremes of genetics versus
environment. The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Certain children,
through their genetic makeups, are likely more sensitive to neurotoxins such
as mercury.
In an environment where drugs like Prozac seep into drinking water, and the
bodies of all of us bubble with a diversity of toxins, like PCBs and
dioxins,
who is to say what combination of toxins, thimerosal included, may provoke
childhood brain disorders like hyperactivity or autism? From a toxicological
point of view, mercury, possibly in combination with other toxins, might act
in a direct fashion on the brains of these kids. Or it's also possible,
given
what is known about mercury, that it could, drive the immune system into a
haywire interaction with its own nervous system and contributing to the
neurological damage.
On June 25, the same day that Kennedy made his assertions about the
mercury-autism connection on radio, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) held
subcommittee hearings into the health effects of environmental toxicity
suffered by 9-11 responders and residents. What many fail to appreciate is
that the plethora of illnesses currently afflicting tens of thousands of
9-11
responders offers us a mirror of the health effects related to the
accumulating toxicity to which we are all exposed. They come at us, and into
us, from our food, air, water and from products and materials we use at home
and at work over our lifetimes. Just as the genetic makeups of some children
can predispose them to brain/behavioral disorders, when exposed to
thimerosal,
a number of the 9-11 responders, against a background of a career of the
exposures they got while fighting fires, developed lung pathologies-- the
notorious WTC cough and chronic lung diseases --and also a host of
immunological and neurological symptoms. Their chronic fatigue, loss of
memory, inability to concentrate and disruption of sleep may, in a very real
sense, parallel the damaged neurology in mercury-exposed children.
Proponents of the thimerosal causation of autism, like Kennedy, argue that a
detoxification method called chelation therapy is of great benefit to these
children. Detoxification, they claim, is a necessary strategy in a
population
already polluted by its environment. Kennedy chides the CDC, and the
traditional U.S. medical establishment, for refusing to even study
chelation.
And in like fashion, when nearly 1,000 of the between 40,000 and 70,000
estimated 9-11 responders who say they have suffered health problems due to
their World Trade Center toxic exposures have demonstrated benefit from a
sauna detoxification procedure, New York City and its traditional medical
team
at Mt. Sinai Hospital and other WTC treatment centers vigorously ignore the
fact that this rehabilitation therapy is actually working. While the ill
responders continue to deteriorate and develop rare cancers, like multiple
myeloma, almost all of those who received detoxification therapy have
returned
to relatively normal lives, their mental fogginess allayed, their sleep
quality restored, their energy for living reinvigorated.
In general, this correlation bears testament to the growing necessity for
toxin cleansing on a planet groaning under the weight of body-stored toxins.
As for the condor connection mentioned at the beginning of this article,
interestingly, there was no hesitation when isotopic fingerprinting showed
that the endangered California condor was suffering from lead poisoning
after
ingestion of lead-bullet-poisoned carcasses left behind by hunters. Using
chelation to remove the lead from the condors' blood and tissues, wildlife
biologists rescued dozens of birds, greatly assisting a captive breeding
program that is returning the species to viability.
Future generations will tell us whether we too readily neglected and
rejected
chelation and other forms of detoxification in favor of traditional
medicine,
which tends to function within the trade space of putting more chemicals
(drugs) into bodies already overflowing with foreign substances. They will
tell us whether we were too resistant to a needed a paradigm shift, which
would recognize the need to relieve a body of its toxic burden as a more
viable path to regaining health rather than trying to relieve symptoms with
drug therapy alone.
VinyL is a molecular biologist who's passion is the philsophical and
pragmatic
expansion of the US healthcare system away from its insane addiction to
physician-lock, reductionistic, simpleminded drug therapy toward a
more-global
view based on the recognition of the primacy of organisms as
information-processing networks.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_vin_lopr_070629_autism_and_9_11_3a_th
e.htm
Children's Environmental Health Network Community Listserv
The content of listserv postings are the responsibility of individual
authors and
do not indicate the Children's Environmental Health Network's support or
endorsement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A blank message to these addresses performs the following -
cehncommunity-on@... gets you on the list.
cehncommunity-off@... gets you off the list.
cehncommunity-switch@... switches you to/from the fancy digest
version.
cehncommunity-vacation@... switches you to/from the vacation list.
Post your message to the list by sending it to cehncommunity@....
To contact the list owner, send your message to
cstroebel@....
I hope as many of you as possible will also write to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (as I have done below) to ask them to lower their blood lead goal from the dangerously high current level of 10 micrograms per decilitre (ug/dL) to the more reasonable level of 2 ug/dL.
Please forward any emails you do send to WHO, onto the egroup. The current WHO level was set 15 years ago so it is little wonder that researchers have turned up so much more evidence in that time for adverse and unacceptable health and behavioural effects occurring between 2 and 10 ug/dL.
Subject: Please lower your blood lead goal in line with our Info Pack 56 - Dangers of a blood lead level above 2 ug/dL
[if either info@... or postmaster@... is the wrong email address for policy matters - could you please forward this to the environmental health global policy-makers.]
Dear World Health Organisation,
Can you please lower your blood lead level goal from 10 micrograms per decilitre down to 2 micrograms per decilitre to speed the elimination of lead poisoning globally?
Your own website states: "Even blood lead levels as low as 5 micrograms per decilitre can irreversibly impair the development of childrens brains, reducing their IQ." So why haven't you already made the goal to be below 5 micrograms per decilitre? Seriously, what are you waiting for?
This is a legitimate request to you to lower the goal to 2 micrograms per decilitre so please take it seriously and respond as soon as possible.
Please find attached some recent research indicating the dangers of a blood lead level above 2 micrograms per decilitre (2 ug/dL), firstly in adults and then some references re: children:
1. (attached) "Blood Lead Below 0.48 ΅mol/L (10 ΅g/dL) and Mortality Among US Adults" by Andy Menke, Paul Muntner, Vecihi Batuman, Ellen K. Silbergeld and Eliseo Guallar, in Circulation - Journal of the American Heart Association, September 26, 2006 published online Sep 18, 2006; AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE FROM http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.106.628321v1
3. "Lead in Blood: 'Safe' Levels Too High? Average Americans Tested Had Level High Enough for Increased Heart Disease Death Risk" by Miranda Hitti , Medical Writer, WebMD Medical News, Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD Medical Editor, WebMD Medical News, Sept. 18, 2006 at http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=64228
4. (attached) "Lead, Cadmium, Smoking, and Increased Risk of Peripheral Arterial Disease" by A Navas-Acien, E Selvin, R Sharrett, E Calderon-Aranda, E Silbergeld, E Guallar in Circulation Issue 109, American Heart Association (AHA) Inc. June 7th 2004. Available by subscription to Circulation Online at www.circulationaha.org or www.circ.ahajournals.org
5. "'Safe' levels of lead, cadmium" by American Heart Association (AHA), 8th June 2004, at
6. "Blood Lead Levels and Death from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: Results from the NHANES III Mortality Study" by Susan E. Schober, Lisa B. Mirel, Barry I. Graubard, Debra J. Brody, Katherine M. Flegal in Environmental Health Perspectives Online 6th July 2006, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1st Oct 2006, at www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9123/9123.pdf
7. "Research Indicates that Low Blood Lead Levels Contribute to Early Death from Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer" by Courtney Hinton, Intern at the Alliance for Healthy Housing, & Student, University of Maryland, published in Alliance Alert, August 2006, published by the Alliance for Health Housing (AFHH) at www.afhh.org/res/res_alert.htm#lowbllearlydeath
8. "Exposures to Environmental Toxicants and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in US Children" by Joe Braun, Robert S. Kahn, Tanya Froehlich, Peggy Auinger and Bruce P. Lanphear in Environmental Health Perspectives - ehp online.org at http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9478/9478.pdf
10. "Exposure Assessment: Lead Neurotoxicity - Is the Center for Disease Control's goal to reduce lead below 10ug/dl blood in all children younger than 72 months by 2010, good enough?" by Thomas F. Schrager, Ph.D., Toxicology Source published by Cambridge Toxicology Group Inc. at http://www.toxicologysource.com/tox-med/lead/braininjury.html
12. "Reduced Intellectual Development in Children with Prenatal Lead Exposure" by L Schnaas, SJ Rothenberg, M-F Flores, S Martinez, C Hernandez, E Osorio, S Ruiz Velasco & E Perroni, at www.ehponline.org/members/2005/8552/8552.pdf
Cheers
Yours Sincerely Elizabeth O'Brien, Winner of the United Nations Assoc'n of Australia (UNAA) World Environment Day (WED) Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment, 2004. Manager, Global Lead Advice & Support Service
PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia Ph +61 2 9716 0132 Freecall 1800 626086 www.lead.org.au
Hi Everyone,
My little guy has lead levels of 49. We painted, did the lead clean
up according health regulations, went by the book, and yet my child's
lead levels shot up. He has Pica a disorder which causes one to eat
non eatable items. During the night he got up and bit through the
paint and even ate the wood of my window Ceil's.
I took him to the hospital after I saw he had been biting the window
Ceil, and they told me his lead levels are 49. Then they suggested
Chelation, and I said lets get started. The doctor said I could do
the Chelation at home, but I told him I would rather start the
Chelation at the hospital because my child had a stroke in October
2005, and I do not want to take any chances of him having any
complications with the Chelator. So far he is doing well on the
Chelator.
The name of the Chelator is Succimer. He stated on Succimer April 22
and will finish May 9th..
Tomorrow May 4th he will get a CBC platelets and Liver function test.
May 16th he will get his Lead Levels checked again.
I am telling you all of this, to let you know that even if you have
done the Lead clean up / paint over lead paint, your child is still
in danger of high lead levels.
We had our house reinspected for lead with an X-ray gun, and found
that the only place that lead was found was our front door / 6 large
windows...We will be replacing them this Saturday...It will be a huge
job, but well worth it.
The only safe way to get rid of lead is to remove the whole area that
the lead was found in...You never know what a child might do!
I will let you know how the CBC Platelets and liver function test
goes.
May God Bless you, and your families.
Deborah Brock
Autism Society of America
IMPORTANT NOTICE: please reply to the egroup OR direct to egroup@... but also please send a copy to my Easter holiday email leadliz@... for this subject only.
Dear all,
I have drafted a new factsheet below - "Climate Change & Lead Poisoning Management" but I would love people to send in pithy quotes and anecdotes or other examples that I can incorporate into the factsheet, especially of eg:
- lead contamination stories from other "climate change" events like Hurricane Katrina
- any other research into the phenomena of lead poisoning being a "Summer Disease"
- examples of individuals with lead poisoning suffering worse in hot weather
- any other items that link lead to climate change.
Cheers
Elizabeth O'Brien, Global Lead Advice and Support Service, Australia
DRAFT FACTSHEET
Climate Change & Lead Poisoning Management
The problems of climate change and lead poisoning or lead abatement have a number of things in common; primarily that solutions must be whole-of-government because no one department can adequately deal with either issue, but importantly, that action needs to be global and is urgent.
How has lead poisoning prevention policy helped slow the rate of climate change?
ΨFirstly, the removal of lead from petrol enables two huge changes in environmental health terms: it is the most important and highest priority simple-to-execute way to reduce blood lead levels in any population, and it allows the use of catalytic converters. Catalytic converters have arguably reduced the amount of greenhouse gases coming from petrol engines more than any other technology. Because lead poisons catalytic converters, every country has had to introduce unleaded petrol before they could introduce vehicles with catalytic converters. As soon as the remaining 17 countries where leaded petrol is still sold for road use, phase out leaded petrol, the opportunity will exist for regulations which provide for every petrol driven vehicle on the planet to have a catalytic converter.
The following news release from James Rochow, (now President, Trust for Lead Poisoning Prevention) dated 2nd November 1999, ably summarises this first vital point:
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATES PROPOSE INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Alliance Urges Governments to Fulfill Previous Commitments to Phase Out Leaded Gasoline as a Necessary First Step toward Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
BONN, GERMANY - The Alliance To End Childhood Lead Poisoning has released a policy statement that calls on Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to phase out leaded gasoline as a necessary first step toward reducing vehicular greenhouse gas emissions.The policy statement was released at a workshop on Health and Climate Change co-sponsored by the Alliance, the American Lung Association, Friends of the Earth, and the European Environment Bureau.The workshop was held in Bonn, Germany, to coincide with the Fifth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Health and Climate Change workshop overwhelmingly endorsed integrated solutions to climate change, including leaded gasoline phase-out.Integrated solutions must consist of measures that quickly and easily improve energy efficiency; help control Greenhouse Gases, both directly and indirectly; and achieve other pollution prevention benefits.
"Leaded gasoline phase-out is a perfect example of an integrated solution," said Dr. Axel Friedrich, Director of the Environment and Transport Division of the German Federal Environment Agency."In addition to protecting millions of children and adults from lead's harmful effects, eliminating its use in gasoline is a first necessary step to controlling a host of other air pollutants, including greenhouse gases," Dr. Friedrich added.This is because lead makes it impossible to take advantage of modern technologies - such as fuel injection systems, on-board computers, oxygen sensors, and catalytic converters - that improve energy efficiency and reduce toxic vehicle emissions.Furthermore, according to Dr. Friedrich, "lead's corrosive effects on exhaust systems, spark plugs, and other engine parts means that switching to unleaded gasoline saves consumers money."
"It's time to insert health considerations into the debate on climate change," declared Fran DuMelle, Deputy Managing Director of the American Lung Association."Addressing climate change provides the opportunity for integrated solutions that will protect the environment, improve public health, and promote sustainable development."
Leaded gasoline remains the most dispersive source of lead exposure and every day of its continued use adds to the reservoir of environmental lead that eventually must be controlled or abated.Lead poisoning from gasoline and other sources continues to be one of the world's most pervasively debilitating diseases.The World Health Organization has found that all urban children in developing countries under two years of age, and more than 80 percent of those between the ages of three and five, are suspected to have blood lead levels exceeding international health standards.Lead exposures can adversely affect everyone, but special populations such as children, pregnant women, and men and women of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable to lead's harmful effects.Even at very low levels, lead poisoning in children can cause developmental disabilities, hyperactivity, impaired growth, hearing loss, blood diseases, behavior problems, reduced attention span, and decreased productivity.Effects on adults include high blood pressure, kidney disease, and impaired fertility.
"The international community has reached a consensus that phasing out leaded gasoline is an environmental and sustainable development priority," according to Maria Rapuano, Project Director with the Alliance."Parties must fulfill previous commitments made at the Commission on Sustainable Development, Habitat, the Summit of the Americas, and many other international and regional for a to phase out leaded gasoline promptly."
ΨSecondly, the fallout from leaded petrol vehicle emissions doesnt disappear once lead is removed from petrol. This airborne lead dust eventually settles in dusts in buildings (and especially in building cavities ceiling cavities, wall cavities, under-floor cavities), and in soils, water bodies and sediments. Hiring an Australian Dust Removalists Association member nicely combines a toxics issue (detox your home by removing lead-containing ceiling dust from the roof void) with action to reduce global warming (by installing roof insulation).
What makes climate change and lead poisoning together, worse than either problem on its own?
Some fascinating observations (see below) that have been made in many places for many years are that the hotter it is, the higher the blood lead level, and that if someone who already has lead poisoning gets overheated, they suffer worse health effects as a result eg becoming more agitated or aggressive. Drought too brings dry dusty environments and thirst or restrictions on water use for drinking and especially cleaning away lead pollution all factors which increase exposure and absorption of lead.
One can only wonder at the possible consequences should average temperatures continue to rise and drought affect more of the globe.
Why is lead poisoning called the Summer Disease?
The following was originally published in LEAD Action News vol 4 no 1, Summer 1996:
Ref: (1979) V Garnys, R Freeman and L Smythe "Lead Burden of Sydney Schoolchildren", Uni of NSW, p160.
Several publications [AM Baetjer (1959) Industrial Medicine and Surgery, 28, 137, and JC Aub et al (1925) Mediano, 4, 1] have noted the increased incidence of childhood lead poisoning during the summer months. In a recent publication entitled "The summer disease: An integrative model of the seasonality aspects of childhood lead poisoning", JM Hunter (1977) [in "Social Science and Medicine" 11, 691-703] reviewed this phenomenon by considering air pollution, maternal-foetal exchange of lead, biological models and the effects of sunlight in the USA.
In Australia, Freeman [various references 1969-1973] noted the increased number of hospital admissions in summer for childhood lead poisoning. [Ref: http://www.lead.org.au/lanv4n1/lanv4n1-5.html ]
JM Hunter also wrote The summer disease. Some field evidence on seasonality in childhood lead poisoning published in "Social Science and Medicine" in 1978 Jun;12(2D):85-94.
Are lead poisoning rates worsening in drought-affected communities where they were previously showing constant improvement?
On March 15th 2007, the first rise in blood lead levels since 1992 was reported for young children in Broken Hill a town in outback Australia and home of the largest lead mining operations in the world. Drought has affected most of central Australia, including Broken Hill where now 28% of young children have a blood lead level exceeding the WHO guideline. Verity Edwards wrote in The Australian newspaper:
The World Health Organisation's guideline for safe blood lead levels is 10 micrograms of lead per decilitre. While the median in Broken Hill has risen from 5.5 ug/dl to 5.9, the Aboriginal mean has risen from 8.7 to 9.7. And lead experts, such as Adelaide University researcher Peter Baghurst, have argued that the WHO levels should be lowered to 2 ug/dl.
It is certainly worth investigating if average blood lead levels are rising in other communities where average temperatures are rising. Communities hosting lead product manufacturing, lead acid battery recycling, lead mining or smelting operations are the most likely to have biannual blood lead survey data over several decades, which could then be compared to temperatures over the same period.
How does heat affect the lead poisoned individual?
The following was originally published under the title Lead Workers Case Studies in LEAD Action News vol 4 no 1, Summer 1996:
Case G is a firearms instructor for the Security industry. When he had his blood lead tested and found he had a blood lead level of 1.68 ΅mol/L (35 ΅g/dL) his doctor "was helpful, but I dont think she knows that much about it herself". The senior police sergeant in charge of the Firearms Registry in his area had suggested that he be tested when the instructor started getting "very short-tempered". The Firearms Registry supervises all security firearms instructors in Victoria. The senior sergeant had been lead-poisoned himself (4.1 ΅mol/L - over 80 ΅g/dL) and needed chelation, and so was aware of the symptoms.
The instructor had previously worked only on outdoor ranges. The day after running his first 3 hour course at an indoor range, he felt "generally off-colour. The range isnt well-ventilated". After 12 of these sessions, "I have violent mood swings -my wife says its like bad PMT. I realise it at the time but I cant stop myself. Any increase of pressure on me is hard to handle. When I go out into the sun, if I get a lot of UV, I know Im going to get a lead dump. I get hot flushes - it feels like Im spontaneously combusting from inside - my entire body heats up and breaks out into a sweat. [See article following "Lead Poisoning: the Summer Disease".] I have short term memory loss and I get a hot metallic taste in my mouth after work." He also suffers joint pain for which he is being treated with anti-inflammatories. [Ref: http://www.lead.org.au/lanv4n1/lanv4n1-4.html ]
And its not just humans who suffer worse lead poisoning effects when they get hot. One GLASS caller told us about her dog fitting when he was overheated:
I had an old English sheep dog years ago in an old place in Sydney & my husband was stripping furniture and the dog chewed a door. I was playing with the dog and he went into fits. If he got slightly hot or excited he'd have the fits and I never knew when they'd happen and it really upset me at the time and the vet took ages to figure out that it was lead poisoning. [Ref: GLASS Call ID 200703-620, 28th March 2007]
The United Nations and everyone else seem perfectly happy to take UNTIL 2010 to remove lead from all petrol in the remaining 50 or so countries where it's still sold for road-use!! And to me - that's just not darn-well soon enough!! Please read the appeal below and figure out SOON whether you can help. It's also on our home page www.lead.org.au but you have to SCROLL DOWN to see it!
Cheers
Elizabeth O'Brien
ph +612 9716 0014
Urgent Appeal for Funding!
Your Assistance Is Needed To Help Achieve A Global Ban On Leaded Petrol.
The LEAD Group makes an urgent appeal to our web readers for donations to send our representative and member of the Partnership for Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV), Elizabeth OBrien, to the United Nations Environment Programmes 5th Global Partnership Meeting. The event will be held in Quito, Ecuador, 15‑16 February 2007.
The meeting will be an important milestone in the work of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV) and will map out the strategies need to achieve the phase-out of leaded petrol around the world.
In June 2004 Elizabeth was honoured with the Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment by the United Nations Association of Australia. Elizabeth attended the 3rd Global meeting in Delhi, India, in 2004.
No other Australian representative has attended any other of the annual meetings, yet The LEAD Group believes that it is Australian lead that is used to make the leaded petrol for all remaining 80 or so countries where leaded petrol is sold. Therefore we feel it is important that Australia is represented at this meeting.
The LEAD Group seeks a quick global end to the use of leaded gasoline and believes that it is the most important public health goal of the last century. The PCFV appears to be the only process that can achieve this global ban within an acceptable time frame.
The approximate costs of attendance to the Global Meeting include return flights from Sydney to Quito (from $AUD 2,850- not including government charges and taxes) the hotel accommodation ($USD 75 per night, for a regular room at Swissotel, for one week), the cost of meals (lunch will be catered for on the 2 days of the meeting) and transfers to and from the airport in Quito.
Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Donations over $2 are tax deductible.
Thank you!
Donation Information
Phone: (02) 9716 0014
Bank Details:
BSB: 062257
Account No: 1008 9393
Account name: LEAD GROUP INCORPORATED NSW LEAD EDUCATION AND ABATEMENT FUND
Bank: Commonwealth Bank Australia, Summer Hill, NSW, 2130
The Lead Group Inc is endorsed as an income Tax Exempt Charitable entity under subdivision 50-B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
The Lead Education and Abatement Fund (LEAF) is a public fund listed on the Register of Environmental Organisations under Item 6.1.1 of subsection 30-55(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and is endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient under subdivision 30-BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
Dear Parents,
can anyone help with the question below please? If you could please respond
to the whole egroup, I can then forward any responses to Leadnet so that
Erin receives it.
(You have to be a member of Leadnet to send to that egroup directly)
Cheers
Elizabeth O'Brien
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erin McNally" <erin@...>
To: <leadnet@...>
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: [Leadnet] costs of chelation and special education due to lead
poisoning
Hello Lead-Netters,
I am trying to find information on the "average" costs (or ranges) for
chelation therapy for a lead poisoned child in addition to costs related to
any associated special education needs for a child which has been lead
poisoned. I have asked around a bit and have not been able to get too far
so I thought I would put it out on the listserv. I would like to be
informed for my own knowledge and I also believe it helps show a comparative
to the much smaller price of prevention efforts. Any info/ranges would be
helpful. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Erin McNally
Executive Director
Josiah Hill III Clinic
503.334.9694
Providing education, testing, and resources to families and communities at
risk for environmental health hazards in order to promote and improve early
childhood development
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A blank message to these addresses performs the following -
Leadnet-on@... subscribes you to the list.
Leadnet-off@... unsubscribes you from the list.
Leadnet-switch@... toggles you to/from the fancy digest version.
Leadnet-vacation@... toggles you to/from the vacation list.
Post your message to the list by sending it to Leadnet@....
To contact the list owner, send your message to
Leadnet-list-owner@....
and Wendy Evans our Administrator has just found online (see below) the details - including the brand name of the women's multivitamin with 15.3 micrograms of lead in the daily dose - it is the Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women.
Just letting you know in case you're taking it! Stop now!!
MSN is running a feature about ConsumerLab.com's investigation into the purity of multivitamins. The lab looked at 21 brands of multivitamins for sale in the U.S. and Canada and found only 10 of these brands met the labeled claims or otherwise met quality standards. That doesn't have to mean anything earth-shattering. It could have been the other brands were close to meeting standards or had minor problems. However, the quality issues were ones that could actually hurt your health.
The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women were found to be contaminated with lead. Now, let's put this in perspective. Several calcium supplements run the risk of lead contamination, because lead and calcium participate in many of the same chemical reactions and are difficult to separate. That trace amounts of lead would be present might be expected. However, ConsumerLab.com reported a daily dose of this mulitvitamin contained a whopping 15.3 micrograms of lead (more than ten times the amount permitted without a warning in California). To make matters worse, though you got some bonus lead for your bucks, you only got 54% of the stated levels of calcium.
Another vitamin posed a different risk. Hero Nutritionals Yummi Bears, a kid's multivitamin, contained 216% of the labeled amount of vitamin A in the retinol form [5,400 International Units (IU)], which is considerably higher than the upper limit set by the Institute of Medicine of 2,000 IU for kids ages 1 to 3 and 3,000 IU for kids ages 4 to 8. Vitamin A is one of the vitamins where more is not better. Instead, too much vitamin A can weaken bones and cause liver damage.
Are these quality control issues? Yes, but I would have been surprised if the lab had found the vitamins met their stated claims. Why? For two reasons. First, vitamins aren't regulated by the same standards as medicine. They are considered 'supplements' and not 'drugs'. Your best defense against this is to buy a product from nationally-recognized reputable source with an interest in protecting its good name. The other reason I wouldn't expect vitamins to contain exactly what is listed on the label is simple chemistry. Vitamins, by their very nature, are reactive. The quantities listed in a product will change over the course of its shelf life. Your main protection here is to not take vitamins past their expiration date.
Should you take a multivitamin? Ask yourself whether the potential benefit outweighs the risk. If you are taking a major name brand multivitamin, you are probably getting approximately what is listed. Even then, expect some variation within the product and some degree of heavy-metal contamination with products that include minerals. These vitamins generally are safe, but don't take them automatically assuming they will help you.
dear krgunder
I have just detailed to elizabethe the methods we are trying with my
son re diet rahter than supplements and meds.
I would like to know what a spect scan is.
My son is also doing some movement activities and sometimes some sound
therapy. A month ago thing were great regarding impulsivenss and anger
and pushing and shoving. Things are not so good this month I am hoping
it is related to a diaahorea and tummy bug problem more than anything.
I am also interested in what otheres have to say
regards
MAry
--- In LeadedKids@yahoogroups.com, "krgunder" <krgunder@...> wrote:
>
> I need any info. on what meds have worked best for your child
> re:inattentiveness, anger, impulsiveness. Has anyone had a SPECT
scan
> to dertermine the path the lead took? Was it helpful? Would like to
> talk to anyone that may be able to give some advice. Thanks!
>
Dear elizabeth
I read all articles like this with interest.
I will tell you where I am in terms Of treating my son who has only
had a hair test to confirm he has very high lead levels.
We are currently treating this naturaopathically using foot patches
with coriander drops most nights. I have chosen to try dietary
approaches because he is just a bit over 3 he doesnt take capsules
or such orally. I also feel the body recognises food for what
nutrition it is and trying to concoct a combination of vitamins
minerals etc that will suit him might suit him one day but not the
next.
WE also have green vegetable juices with spirulina each day and am
including fermented foods like kefir, saurkreut and other good
nutrition like meat stock and the like to bring his intestinal walls
back into shape. My son shows the signs of having leaky gut and
candida overgrowth as part of his story his well.
PAtrick holford a british nutritionist has written many books on
nutrition and in his excellent book optimum nitrtion for the mind
talks highly of vitamin c being effective for reducing lead levels
in the blood brian barrier.
Around the time of my sons hair test I also invesitgated getting
biomedical support to address his behavioutr issues. Ablood test
confirmed he had a condtion called pyroluria? which means zinc and
b6 leave his boody throuhg the urine at a rpid rate. A compbination
supplement one am one pm was recomended which included high doses of
zinc, b6 biotin ,magnesium, and host of others. I didnt go donw this
paht because it would mean trying to diguise a supplemnt in food and
it was basically a chemical concoction that his body still would
have trouble recognising.
Using the foot patches and the natural supplementation I belivie we
are addressing what his body needs as natrual as possible and as
gentle as possible. I blieve If we can menid his intestinal system
his ability to rid his body of the lead will be much enhanced and
his concept of eating well enhanced.
there are a ups and donws of all this and despite lots of ups and
downs remain confident we will get there one day.
just contributing to the discussion
regards
MAry
mother to ds 3 high lead levels and lots of behaviour issues
and dear d 5 also heavy metals including lead but furhter ahed on
road to recovery
--- In LeadedKids@yahoogroups.com, <egroup@...> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> A caller advised me this morning about this excellent chapter on
lead and nutrition from the website of the Wisconsin Department of
Health and Family Services at
http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/lead/doc/Chap11Nutrition.pdf
Interestingly, I do not recall ever reading before that "Foods Rich
In Zinc, Vitamin E, Thiamin . . .Reduce the Toxic Effects of Lead".
I mean, I've read separately about both zinc and Vitamin E being
recommended for lead poisoned people but have not read about thiamin
or the three nutrients together being recommended. Have other people
read this before? Does anyone specifically follow this dietary
advice and if so, have you found it helps? Here's an extract from
the chapter:
>
> Figure 11.1
>
> Foods that Reduce Lead Absorption are those rich in . . .
>
> Calcium: milk, cheese, yogurt, kale, collards, turnip greens,
canned salmon. sardines with
>
> bones
>
> Iron: lean meats and poultry, seafood, cereals and breads
fortified with iron, peanut butter,
>
> nuts, dried beans & peas, raisins, prunes, prune juice, greens
such as broccoli and spinach
>
> Vitamin C: tomatoes, oranges and grapefruits and juices, juices
fortified with vitamin C,
>
> strawberries, kiwi, green peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, potatoes
>
> Offer more of these!
>
> Other nutrients can help the body to reduce the toxic effects of
lead that is absorbed.
>
> Zinc, thiamin, and vitamin E all play this role. Families may be
unfamiliar with foods
>
> that contain these nutrients.
>
> Figure 11.2
>
> Foods Rich In Zinc, Vitamin E, Thiamin . . .Reduce the Toxic
Effects of Lead
>
> Zinc Vitamin E Thiamin
>
> Lean red meats Vegetable oils Whole grain foods
>
> Eggs Wheat germ Organ meats
>
> Fish & seafood Nuts Lean pork
>
> Milk & cheese Legumes
>
> Offer more of these!
>
> [END OF EXTRACT]
>
> 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
>
I need any info. on what meds have worked best for your child
re:inattentiveness, anger, impulsiveness. Has anyone had a SPECT scan
to dertermine the path the lead took? Was it helpful? Would like to
talk to anyone that may be able to give some advice. Thanks!
A caller advised me this morning about this excellent chapter on lead and nutrition from the website of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services at http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/lead/doc/Chap11Nutrition.pdf Interestingly, I do not recall ever reading before that "Foods Rich In Zinc, Vitamin E, Thiamin . . .Reduce the Toxic Effects of Lead". I mean, I've read separately about both zinc and Vitamin E being recommended for lead poisoned people but have not read about thiamin or the three nutrients together being recommended. Have other people read this before? Does anyone specifically follow this dietary advice and if so, have you found it helps? Here's an extract from the chapter:
Figure 11.1
Foods that Reduce Lead Absorption are those rich in . . .
lean meats and poultry, seafood, cereals and breads fortified with iron, peanut butter,
nuts, dried beans & peas, raisins, prunes, prune juice, greens such as broccoli and spinach
Vitamin C:
tomatoes, oranges and grapefruits and juices, juices fortified with vitamin C,
strawberries, kiwi, green peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, potatoes
Offer more of these!
Other nutrients can help the body to reduce the toxic effects of lead that is absorbed.
Zinc, thiamin, and vitamin E all play this role. Families may be unfamiliar with foods
that contain these nutrients.
Figure 11.2
Foods Rich In Zinc, Vitamin E, Thiamin . .
.Reduce the Toxic Effects of Lead
Zinc Vitamin E Thiamin
Lean red meats Vegetable oils Whole grain foods
Eggs Wheat germ Organ meats
Fish & seafood Nuts Lean pork
Milk & cheese Legumes
Offer more of these!
[END OF EXTRACT]
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
Dear LeadedKids, LeadPetrolBan and GlobalLead egroups,
I have sent the following email in response to a query on Leadnet but wondered if anyone among you has more information about potential sources of lead in Burma or in products from Burma or used by Burmese people. For example, does anyone know how the lead petrol phaseout is going in Burma? Since I wrote the response below a volunteer researcher has found a 1993 reference [Ref: http://www.globalleadnet.org/pdf/Toxicity_of_Lead.pdf] stating that Burma had 0.84 grams of lead per litre of gasoline (not many countries had higher levels than that - we pressured our New South Wales state government to reduce ours from 0.4 to 0.2 g/L in 1993).
Any information would be much appreciated.
Elizabeth O'Brien
From: egroup@... To: leadnet@... Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 1:38 PM Subject: [Leadnet] Burmese children with non lead based paint exposures
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)
"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
There was a similar question asked in the Autism-Lead egroup so I'm sure that the parents in that egroup won't mind if I pass on the query and the most relevant responses to this egroup. The first response was provided by a very knowledgeable lead poisoning professional - Jo Miller - so I have also included her contact details in case you would like to contact her.
QUERY SENT TO AUTISM-LEAD EGROUP
My 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with autism 3 years ago. She has also had a high lead level for 3 years. Her current level is a 32 which is the highest it has ever been, but it has always been in the high 20s. The doctors will not do chelation because it is not in the 40s. We have had the soil in our yard dug up and new topsoil put down. We have also remodeled our house: new windows, new carpets, etc. I honestly don't know what to do next. Does anyone know of anything? Please let me know. I feel that if her lead level came down she would be doing much better.
RESPONSE ONE
A quite few questions that could help you identify another source of lead and reduce that exposure:
*Have you had a full lead paint inspection and risk assessment by an experienced professional licensed risk assessor with an XRF device? If so, besides painted surfaces, did they test you dishes, pottery, furniture, toys, blinds, etc.? Did they do dust samples as well? Have you had a clearance test since the remodeling work was complete?
*Do you or anyone living in your household (or in a place your child may visit) have a job and or hobby(ies) where there may be lead (e.g.carpenter, remodelers, painter, stained glass, ammunitions, fishing (weights), shooting/firing ranges, plumbing, fence repair / replacement, gutters, electronics production/recycling, smelter, railroad car/marine/bridge/water tower repair/sanding/ painting, road repair/painting, automotive repair, scrap yard, potter, collector (old toys, furniture, etc.) and so much more)?
*Does your daughter have any toys/jewelry/furniture/clothing that has been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission ? For more information go to http://www.cpsc.gov/ and type Lead in the search box. This is a great place to get pictures of the recalled items.
*Does your daughter mouth/play with anything metal particularly tin, copper, brass or pewter? (e.g. pewter cups/forks/spoons, hose ends, or brass keys)
*Do you (or other places you child frequents) have any curtains with weights in the bottom (this is often lead)?
*If your daughter is taking calcium already, is it from a vegetable source? ** Remember, animals are susceptible to lead exposure and many old farms have a great deal of lead (paint,pipes, old gasoline tanks, farm equipment, batteries, etc.) and some calcium supplements have been found to have lead.
*Has your daughter ever had an x-ray of her gut to see if she has ingested something leaded like paint chips, a weight or a child's jewelry medallion?
*Have you had your water tested for lead?
*Is your water source treated with anything that is suppose to bond with lead (I will send you more specifics on this so you can ask for the specific chemicals) because these chemicals can lead to more absorption of lead by those most at risk.
*Has there been any work on the (street) pipes in your neighborhood?
*Have you cleared out the sediment in your hot water heater recently? Do you use hot water from the tap for drinking?
*Do you have brass faucets (most have some brass and most brass has some lead)?
*Has any painted playground equipment been tested?
*Do you live near a golf course or other area that may have been treated with lead arsenate as a pesticide?
*Do you live near a smelter, scrap yard, dump, rail road (track or yard), or other industry?
*Does your daughter have art supplies, like imported crayons and paints, that could have lead?
*Do you heat water in anyway other than to use a glass container in the microwave or on the stove top? (Some coffee pots, tea pot elements, etc. have been made with lead.)
* If you daughter mouths anything has it been tested? (electrical or other 'plastic' covered cords, vinyl, anything painted, ...)
Unfortunately, there are many other ways to be exposed to lead and you may have exhausted all or most of these avenues as potential sources of lead exposure.
If you have any questions about my list questions please feel free to contact me. I am happy to help in anyway that I can. Good luck.
Jo Miller
President, J. Miller & Associates, Minneapolis MN
and Board Member, LEHA - Lead and Environmental Hazard Association, c/o LeadMoldCommunity.com jomiller@...
Ph 612 226 2727
RESPONSE TWO
For our home our county offers training courses on lead abatement open to anyone. Or you can watch a video as we did that teaches you how to handle lead, clean it up, etc. As well as assess whether the abatement job is too large for do it yourselfers and needs professionals. We got the video at the library. In our case, the lead is small items here and there that were overlooked. We had found some old hinges on a door in the attic that had lead paint. A closet in the porch had the original house wood siding (the rest of the house is aluminum) still exposed. That had lead paint. Some cheap toys made in china. Some wood work in our home that had tiny chips or nicks in the paint, the lead was many layers down. We mainly made sure that any painted woodwork that had chips were primed and repainted to seal it and keep any further chipping from happening. We painted the siding in the closet but will be covering it with paneling. Threw out the toys. Removed the hinges, bagged them and bought new ones. We also re-adjusted any doors so that they do not bang or rub when closed, to keep from sanding or chipping more paint off the door jambs over time. Any improperly closing doors that we could not get to hang right, we removed. We threw out all our rugs (we have hardwoods). Washed everything from top to bottom. No one wears any shoes into the house. My husband must change his work clothes immediately upon arriving home and bag them in a plastic garbage bag. His shoes stay on the porch in a plastic bin with a lid. I do not allow my son into the basement or garage. He cannot play in any dirt. Only his sandbox.
What I have read on contaminated soil is the following: If the area is really large, you are better off to have new top soil about 6 inches thick dumped over the old dirt, and keep it planted with grass. Or you can put in bricks, patio pavers, something that keeps the dirt from blowing around or makes it inaccessible to people. It says that the lead stays in the layer of soil where it originally landed unless disturbed. This is supposed to be a more doable option for those who cannot afford to remove the soil. This is what we will be doing around the base of our house. And do not let kids play in any soil that is close to the house foundation or that might have lead in it. These are some of what we are doing. I am not sure if this is the type of information you are looking for. Let us know where the lead is in your home..maybe we can suggest stuff related to your needs.
We also starting giving our son zinc supplements three times a day, and he is not eating things anymore. I am really sorry that you are having such a hard time finding the sources. I know how insane it makes one feel. Anything we can do to help you let us know. It is probably outside your home in the community though. Even if they stopped mining it 40 years ago, it is still in the soil, air and everywhere.
RESPONSE THREE
When we found out my son had lead levels of 44 mcg/dl at 10 months nine years ago from home renovations, we had to throw away all the furniture, carpets, stuffed animals - any porous surface which had absorbed the lead dust. We had to clean out the heating ducts, plant landscaping in the soil around the house, use plywood or drywall over problem doorways & window frames, replace original trim, windows and doors. Because it was a 200-year-old house, the paint had actually absorbed into the bare, stripped wood (once we had removed the 16+ layers of paint in areas, not knowing it was poisonous) - the wood still tested positive. There was no way that house could ever be lead-free. Every room had lead hazards, which we knew nothing about when we bought the house in 95.
It was a part of my life that I wouldn't want to relive again. What we did was opt to stay in that house, instead of declaring bankruptcy, and monitored the lead dust in our house through the blood of my child. Lucky for us, my son's lead levels continued to decline, but my twin daughters, who were born 1 1/2 years after we discovered lead in the house, both elevated due to the dust (false positive capillaries for both). The soil outside of the house was extremely toxic. The dust was tracking in from outside, from both my property & the village's sidewalk. I had to visualize the invisible lead dust so I could continue to battle it.
The dust is tricky, because lead atoms are very small - they will blow out of a regular vacuum bag into the air and float around longer than normal dust, making airborne ingestion easier. HEPA filters are necessary to trap the lead during clean-up (some health departments have a HEPA loan program - check with them to find out). We were also advised to use high phosphate soaps (Tri-Sodium Phosphates), such as Spic-n-Span or automatic dishwasher powder detergent to clean surfaces (we had hardwood floors the rest of the time, since carpets will trap lead, amongst other nasties). Make sure you use rubber gloves when cleaning - the solution made my hands crack & bleed. Change the water often.
About the soil - NEVER plant edible plants near your house if you are concerned that there might be lead - it will absorb into the plants. We added lots of mulch & groundcover plants to deter kids from playing in that area. Technically, when we weeded those gardens, the weeds were hazmat because of the lead they absorbed. Not that lead ever stunted the weeds growth...
Unfortunately, if you are in an area, such as a mining town, where there is lead dust everywhere, Jo is right (I'm addressing multiple postings here). Your only real alternative to using your children as 'the canary in the mineshaft' is to move. We waited 7 years to move, but now I can breathe easier, knowing now what those extreme lead levels actually meant. There was absolutely no way we were ever going to get all the lead out of our house & yard. And we weren't in a lead-industry town, this was just old paint in an old house. It wasn't an issue of house cleaning or diet - we were at war with lead, pure and simple.
Do not try to remove the paint yourselves. That can make a bad problem even worse. If you can take a course in lead safe work practices (usually free), you'll see how overwhelming the prep for hazmat removal lead paint commands - even if you are just shopping around for an abatement contractor. This way you'll know what to look for and what to ask. Check with your state to see if there are any grants available for homeowners to do abatement.
Sorry about the length - there have been lots of great questions posted lately on the PAN site - lots of insights I hadn't considered. Thanks!
RESPONSE FOUR
once the lead already in the childs body the damage is already done
we removed the dirt from the back yard years ago when tested again this year higher than before the problem keeps coming back have cemented most of our yard water here dear the ceiling dust is the worst here fine dust all the time easily abosrded though the skin once lead in the body it thinks its iron and takes it place have iron levels checked
RESPONSE FIVE
Our 4 year old daughter has autism and has had a high lead level for 3 years. After being in a lead program through the county health dept for those 3 years they called a lead abatement group who will based on your income come and remodel the house. We were not approved for 100% of the finances because of our income but we only had to pay 25% of the cost, not bad. They came and removed all of the carpeting and windows. They covered all of the wood trim on the outside of the house in metal. And the local lead mining company came and removed 1 foot of the topsoil and brought in new uncontaminated topsoil for free.
I hope this helps.
All the best
Elizabeth O'Brien, Moderator of LeadedKids and Autism-Lead egroups
We did a hair anaylsis and it came back high and his blood level cam e back at 12....can't find source of lead in our house, any ideas? What vitamins help clear this up and what else could i check
We did a hair anaylsis and it came back high and his blood level cam e
back at 12....can't find source of lead in our house, any ideas? What
vitamins help clear this up and what else could i check
The following was kindly forwarded to me by a Leadnetter. Thanks.
Your really know the blood lead levels are high when they talk about diagnosing by symptoms: "Lead poisoning can be diagnosed from a blue line around the gums and in severe cases can cause convulsions, coma and death."
I'd still like to know the name of the company and whether it's Chinese or not.
Elizabeth O'Brien
From an Associated Press article online at MSNBC.com 9/6/06
HUNDREDS SUFFER LEAD POISONING IN CHINA Latest pollution disaster caused by a smelter in poverty-stricken Gansu
BEIJING - Hundreds of people in northwestern China have been hospitalized with lead poisoning that was likely caused by pollution from a nearby smelter, state media and local officials said Wednesday.
The poisonings in two villages in poverty-stricken Gansu province added to a string of recent pollution disasters in China that have prompted violent protests in some areas.
The first sign of trouble in the villages of Xinsi and Moba came on Aug. 18, when medical tests showed 10 people had high levels of lead in their blood, the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.
Health officials conducted checkups and "discovered that almost every family in the villages had the same kind of problem," or at least 879 residents, the newspaper said. The youngest victim was 5 months old.
"Children started feeling ill and their parents brought them to a local hospital," an official from Hui county, where the two villages are located, said by phone. "We suspect that they were sickened by pollution caused by a lead smelter nearby that discharged waste into the air."
The smelter was shut down and an investigation was under way, the official said. He refused to give his name or the name of the smelting company.
does anyone have any more detail on this story below? Like who owns the factory and what does it make? Electronics? Plastics? Fireworks? Pigments? Crystal? Leaded Glass? Computer recycling? So many options... Was it workers? Adults? Children?
Herald Sun Page 34 Thursday September 7 2006
Hundreds poisoned
BEIJING - At least 879 people in two Chinese villages have been admitted to hospital with lead poisoning, probably caused by airborne waste from a nearby lead factory, local officials said.
The poisonings in the poor, northwestern province of Gansu added to a string of recent pollution disasters that have prompted violent protests.
thanks violet
IM australia so its good to know that. I have thrown the pot out -
too risky methinks and am rethinking yoghurt making options//
cheers
Mary
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
If you're in the USA, Home Depot and such stores carry lead test kits/swabs. Or they can be purchased online: http://www.leadinspector.com/
In Australia, try: http://www.lead.org.au/clp/leadtestkit.html http://www.deh.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/publications/ceramics.html
violet~*
bellscrystalheart <marybel7@...> wrote:
Hello
I am new to this group. My son 3 has tested high to lead in a hair analysis and my daughter also (not as high but still high). my son has every indication
of lead in his body including bouts of aggression and hyperactivity. My daughter has sensory processing problems.
We try a back to basics type diet - weston price style and adding fermented foods to the diet. some natural supplements and foot pathces currently to try and lessing the toxicity.
I want to make some yoghurt and have a chinese pottery pot to use inside a electric pan. Im worried the pot as it is a dark colour that it might be a lead glaze - is there any easy way of telling?
thank you in advance
Mary
dylan 3 Emily 5
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Hello
I am new to this group. My son 3 has tested high to lead in a hair
analysis and my daughter also (not as high but still high). my son
has every indication of lead in his body including bouts of
aggression and hyperactivity. My daughter has sensory processing
problems.
We try a back to basics type diet - weston price style and adding
fermented foods to the diet. some natural supplements and foot
pathces currently to try and lessing the toxicity.
I want to make some yoghurt and have a chinese pottery pot to use
inside a electric pan. Im worried the pot as it is a dark colour
that it might be a lead glaze - is there any easy way of telling?
thank you in advance
Mary
dylan 3 Emily 5