Lead
22/10/2010 - New home study: Harmful chemicals in our floors, walls
We all know that children's toys should be checked for toxic chemicals, and many studies have done so, prompting removal of harmful chemicals and recalls of harmful products. Now a new study from the Ecology Center is focusing on home improvement products like flooring and wallpaper.
What chemicals are we exposing our families to in our homes?
The report found:
- 5% of all flooring samples had detectable levels of lead. Products with the highest percent of lead included vinyl sheet flooring and vinyl tile flooring.
- Two-thirds of PVC flooring tiles contained organotin stabilizers. Some forms of organotins are endocrine disruptors and other forms can impact the developing brain and are toxic to the immune system.
- 96% of the wallpapers sampled contained polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coatings. PVC has chemical additives including phthalates, lead and cadmium, all of which are harmful to children even at low levels.
- Over 50% of PVC wallpaper samples contained one or more hazardous chemicals of concern including lead, cadmium, chromium, tin and antimony.
- Nearly one in five wallpaper samples contained detectable levels of cadmium. All wallpaper with cadmium was vinyl coated.
Read the article on SaferStates.com
21/06/2010 - 85 Percent of Children's Drinks Contain Lead Exceeding Federal Limits
More than 85 percent of children's drinks contain so much lead they may exceed federal limits for young children.
Both organic and conventional juices were included in the lead-tainted products. Of 146 products, 125 were contaminated with enough lead in a single serving to require a warning label under California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.
Read the article on Mercola.com
17/02/2010 - ADHD symptoms caused by lead exposure, new study claims
Now two studies -- one published in the January issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and the other published in the February issue of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science -- provide the best evidence yet that lead could be one of the biggest culprits behind ADHD. Read the original article on NaturalNews.com
22/09/2009 - Supposedly 'Safe' Lead Levels Harm Children
Young children's exposure to lead in the environment is harming their intellectual and emotional development. What’s more, the toxic effects of lead on the central nervous system are obvious even below the current so-called safe level of lead in the blood. They are recommending the threshold should be halved. The study set out to see if there was any effect on the behavior and intellectual development of children who had ingested just below the UK’s so-called safe level of 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood. Lead levels between five and 10 micrograms per deciliter were associated with significantly poorer scores for reading ( 49 percent lower) and writing (51 percent lower). Read the original article on Mercola.com
