Lead Poisoning: Are Your Children at Risk?

As conscientious parents, we assume we are doing everything possible to protect our children; we teach them to look both ways before crossing the street, not to talk to strangers, to wash their hands frequently, not to run with scissors, to eat healthy foods, not to drink after other kids, and numerous other things to protect them. But there may be dangers lurking right in your home; dangers that you aren't even aware of, that can be serious enough to mean potential death for your child.

Lead poisoning is a very serious health hazard often resulting in nervous system damage, kidney damage, brain damage, red blood cell damage, and in some instances death. Symptoms of lead poisoning can include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, stomachache, cramps, constipation, headaches, irritability, fatigue, and sleeplessness. If exposure is prolonged symptoms may include dizziness, clumsiness, paralysis, convulsions, and loss of motor skills in small children.

In the past, lead poisoning most often resulted from exposure to lead based paints and their resulting lead dust in homes built before 1978. But with the increased awareness of the serious health problems caused by lead based paints, cases of lead poisoning as a result has decreased dramatically. However, there are other causes of lead poisoning that may place your child at risk.

Bathtubs. Many people have an old claw-footed or cast iron bathtub in their homes. Although nostalgic and beautiful, this could have a high potential for lead poisoning. These old tubs are notorious for containing high amounts of lead in the porcelain and cast iron. Although lead cannot be absorbed through the skin, small children are often inclined to drink bath water or put bath toys into their mouths, thus ingesting lead and increasing their risk of lead poisoning. The outside surfaces of the old claw-footed tubs were often painted with lead based paint, increasing the risks even more. If you own one of these types of bathtubs be sure to have it tested for lead either with a home test kit, available at most hardware stores, or by a professional.

Often overlooked is the modern style porcelain bathtub. Most people assume this type of tub is safe, but many glazes that were used until 1995 may contain as much as 88% lead. This is safe as long as the porcelain remains undamaged, but if it should become cracked or chipped lead can contaminate your child's bathwater, putting her in danger. You should also have this type of bathtub tested if there is any sign of damage, no matter how slight.

If you find that your bathtub is contaminated by lead, what should you do? The first impulse may be to run out and buy a new bathtub. That is not always necessary, especially if you have an old tub that you can't bear to part with. There are other alternatives. Encapsulation is a process where the old enamel is completely covered over, resealing the lead and preventing it from contaminating your child's bathwater. There are many bathtub repair shops that specialize in encapsulation, check local listings to find one in your area.

Vinyl Mini blinds. A 1995 investigation conducted by the Arizona Department of Health Services linked a number of unexplainable cases of lead poisoning to vinyl mini blinds. A North Carolina study conducted in 1996 found surface lead dust on both the mini blinds themselves and window sills exceeding up to 100 times the federal standard. Likewise, a 2004 National Safety Council report states, "CPSC found that in some blinds, the levels of lead in the dust was so high that a child ingesting dust from less than one square inch of blind a day for about 15 to 30 days could result in blood levels at or above the 10 microgram per deciliter amount CPSC considers dangerous for young children." However, they feel that the blinds only pose a potential threat to children under 6 years old because of the potential for rubbing their hands on the mini blinds and then putting their fingers in their mouths.

At the urging of the CPSC, manufacturers began using lead-free stabilizers in the plastic used for mini blinds around July of 2004. Mini blinds purchased after that date should, in some form, state that they are lead free. CPSC recommends that anyone with children under 6 years of age, having old mini blinds or mini blinds purchased before July of 2004 immediately remove them from your home and replace with the new lead-free ones.

Vinyl lunch boxes. At the beginning of the 2005/2006 school year the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) found levels of lead in the inner lining of soft vinyl lunch boxes high enough to warrant not only alarm but the filing of multiple lawsuits. Lead in the inner lining means that it could contaminate the child's food and thus be ingested by the child. Another possibility of ingestion is that of the child handling the lunch box and then eating with his contaminated hands.

While newer soft vinyl lunch boxes have proven to be lead free, if your child has an older one or one purchased at a garage sale, you should either test it for lead or, better yet, throw it away and buy a new one.

Vinyl toys. Although the majority of plastic toys are lead free there have been occurrences of toys made with Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), commonly known as vinyl, where there was less than adequate quality control during the manufacturing process, thus leading to lead contamination. As these toys age the lead becomes dust on the toy's surface, posing a potential threat to small children, especially those under the age of 3, who tend to put everything into their mouths.

It is difficult to determine whether vinyl toys contain lead by reading the packaging. If there is any question in your mind regarding the safety of your child's vinyl toys, they should be tested or removed from the toy boxes of children 3 years of age and under.

Costume jewelry. Children of all ages love to play with costume jewelry and as parents we see little harm in it. However, there have been numerous reports of young children swallowing charms and other small jewelry items that contain lead, with several of these incidents resulting in the death of the child. Although there are strict U.S. regulations against the use of lead and lead based products in children's items, a large amount of metallic toy jewelry is imported from countries that have fewer or no such regulations.

Another innocent looking threat is antique costume jewelry. Because this jewelry was made before lead poisoning awareness, it often contains large quantities of lead, particularly in pewter pieces, and should be kept safely away from small children. In fact, parents are strongly urged to keep any piece of jewelry small enough to be swallowed away from children under 6 years of age.

There are dangers surrounding our children every day of their lives. As parents we do what we can to protect them. Making certain that your home is lead free will help your child to live a happy, healthy life, and give you a little more peace of mind.