URGENT - LEAD ALERT
IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED OR RECEIVED A WEIGHTED OR LEAD BLANKET FOR YOUR
CHILD YOU MUST READ THIS

Parent Lois Smith, whose daughter was poisoned previously by an
alleged "therapy" vest – which turned out to be a lead dental vest
treated with antimony – has given us the following information of
great concern.

On October 18, Lois was talking to a doctor at a hospital in Chicago
about flame retardant and applications to medical devices. She
followed up with calls to dental vest distributors to ask about flame
retardant being used on a vest with foam backing. This led to Lois
being led to the only company anyone knew of that made dental
shielding vests with a foam backing (the type of vest that poisoned
her daughter) Shielding International of Madras, Oregon. The woman
who answered the phone asked why Lois wanted this information. Lois
told her that she had a 5-year old daughter who had been diagnosed as
autistic and, before Lois could continue, the woman said, "Oh, you
have an autistic, then you want a leaded blanket." Lois
replied, "No, ma'am, I do not want a leaded blanket. You actually
sell autistic children leaded blankets?" To which the woman
replied, "Yep, for that weighted therapy." Lois asked her if she was
concerned about poisoning them. The woman said, "No," that autistics
do not eat them. Lois explained that it was her understanding that
67% of autistic children suffer from PICA and that they would indeed
eat these and that her daughter had been poisoned by eating the foam
on the backing of a vest. The woman replied, "You do not want to get
the foam when you order this, you want to get a material covering."
Lois again said that she did not want to order a lead blanket; she
just wanted the information on the foam component of the vests. The
woman gave her the number of the foam supplier.

Lois was sickened by the possibility that children were being
poisoned by these blankets, and the next day her 17-year old son
offered his birthday money to help buy one of the lead blankets,
which cost hundreds of dollars. Lois called back the company and
told the woman she had changed her mind. The woman said, "Oh, that's
great, honey, what color would you like it in?" After the discussion
about color Lois asked about ordering a lap pad, and then Lois
explained there were times when she felt that more weight was needed,
so she'd like to order an extra long so that she could fold the item
in half and get double the weight. Lois was stunned when the woman
said this was a great idea, due to the fact that the first rule of
lead shielding is that you CANNOT fold it. Lois was directed to the
representative for her state to finalize the order. Lois called
them. They asked her what color she wanted. Lois gave them the
dimensions and said she intended to fold it. The order was placed
for a 5-year old little autistic girl to receive a leaded blanket
with a hot pink material covering.

The private company that had previously identified the vest in Lois's
home that had poisoned her daughter tested the outside of the package
containing the lead blanket with an XRF (X-ray fluorescence)
machine. The inspector was astonished at how high the readings came
back and stated that there was an extremely high level of lead in
whatever was in the package. Subsequently, a lead inspector for the
State of Michigan opened the package and tested the blanket inside,
getting higher readings. He also dust-wiped for surface lead. The
inspector said that with all of the recalls for lead poisoning items,
that this was a "lead death" item, and that it would be like a
giant "Hershey Bar" to autistic – or even neurotypical children – due
to the fact that it has a sweet flavor and that if the outside was
compromised a child would have access to massive amounts of lead.

Lois has made the observation that the stitching was done right
through the lead. She observes that if pets get a hold of this, it
will be further compromised by claws and teeth. Lois wonders if an
autistic child who has suffered from seizures goes to the emergency
room with seizures from a massive poisoning, will they suspect lead?

And today, the test results of the dust wipes are in. The outside of
the blanket is lethal. According to the inspector from the State if
Michigan, a child could die from licking the outside of the blanket.

If your child has been exposed to this type of blanket, take
precautions, package it, and remove it from the living space of the
interior of your home.

Autism One Radio is planning on airing an interview with Lois Smith,
the videotape of the initial inspection of the blanket, and test
results as they become available at www.autismone.org/radio. Our
thanks to Lois Smith for her continued efforts to protect children.