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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 10 is not the level at which you should start to worry, less than 10 is.
http://www.slate.com/id/2172544/
"Though federal authorities refuse to admit it, it's increasingly clear that no safe threshold for lead exists, and even the tiniest amount can hurt children's developing brains."
"In 2003, Bruce Lanphear and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that kids with lead levels less than 10 mcg/dl lost roughly 7 IQ points."
The same piece also lays out the background and circumstances by which you weren't alerted to the high 'but safe' results detected when your child was 2, and why American parents aren't being warned about levels of lead poisoning that the science indicates is dangerous to their children's health (sound familiar?).
"hough lead paint in homes was banned in 1978, pro-lead lobbyists persuaded then-Vice President George Bush in 1982 to recommend removing limitations on leaded gasoline (the effort ultimately failed). In the 1980s, the Reagan administration barred the CDC from collecting data on national pediatric lead levels."
"just before the CDC considered lowering lead limits once again in 2003, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson removed a qualified scientist, Michael Weitzman, from the CDC's lead advisory committee and then rejected the appointments of Bruce Lanphear and Susan Klitzman, the researchers who found toxic effects of lead at low levels. Instead, Thompson moved to appoint Joyce Tsuji, who worked for two companies that represented lead firms, and William Banner, who has stated publicly that 70 mcg/dl of lead is safe for children's brains—a view not shared by any respectable scientists."
There is no floor on how low these guys will go.
China is still being run by the Communist Party. So the lead danger coming from toys manufactured in China amounts to a capitalist-socialist joint venture.
Socialists have reasons for cutting corners, too. Soocialists tend to cut corners to fulfill the state's economic plan, rather than to guarantee profits for the shareholders.
Why are people giving infants toy phones and plastic things they can bash each other on the head with? Seriously. Our kids are pretty stripped down as personalities go and are closer to our primate roots than adults are. (Except at football and rugby games.) The first thing a small child does with a hard toy is try to bash some other kid's brains out with it. If there are no other kids, they go after the dog or cat or mummy's kneecaps. When the toy is not being bashed on someone or something, it is hard and unpleasant under the feet.
I don't recall stuffed animals being made with lead paint. Why not get those for Junior? Steiff, being up to date, has a wonderful stuffed Rottweiler, for those who love stylish dogs (http://tinyurl.com/2dyuck). Also, there are plain wood blocks
http://littlefolks.stores.yahoo.net/medounblwicr.html, which were a big hit in my house. (Good for bashing Fido with.) An ordinary baseball is still made with animal hide.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are also homemade toys, like two chopsticks and a Quaker Oats container, going on ebay to find a Raggedy Ann sewing pattern, getting the book on how to make sock puppets, and using some lumber and garden sand to make a sandbox...
I was originally going to post something about the classic toys being the best, and the easiest ways to keep kids safe from modern poisons. I think there have been plenty of posts with that advice, so I'll just add one tip and then hijack the topic to talk about what I think really matters.
The tip: buy Amish toys. They're AWESOME. I still have some stuff that I played with over 30 years ago, and it's still in great shape and poison-free. Thank heavens for the Innernetz, right? Anyone can easily find this stuff today, while back in the early '70s, one needed a kinda wonky Mom or Dad to really go looking for it. (Not to say that Amish folks are running many websites.)
Aside from that, I'd mention that it seems to me that the bigger issue is the war on the traditional family that's been orchestrated in the US over the past 30 years or so. It's virtually impossible today for parents to raise kids on a single average income without being dirt-poor. Our current economy virtually forces both parents to work (if they're around), which subtracts pretty dramatically from the time they can spend with their kids.
Plus the fact that exhausted parents are far less likely to be able to "make their own toys" and really take charge of providing for the play of their children... A parent at home with the kids is interested in:
building a sandbox/treehouse/etc
doing arts and crafts with egg-boxes, pipe cleaners, glue
exposing kids to "real" non-play activities, like gardening, simple repairs, etc
building blocks
(Perhaps as much to help them keep their sanity as to provide fun activities for the kids.)
The parent who drags his/her exhausted ass home at the end of the workday at the shop/factory/office just doesn't have the same enthusiasm about such projects. Cheap plastic sandboxes, plastic "arts-and-crafts" kits, magnetic snap-together toysets--they all look pretty appealing to the parent who wants to provide good enjoyment for their kids but is just barely making it through the day.
Signing off, I wave my red and black flag and chant, "Solidarity!"
Lead dust is microscopic - you won't clean it without spreading it. You need a HEPA filter and a professional vacuum. Work that disturbs lead paint should be done by an EPA certified worker with the proper equipment and training. Ditto for cleanup.
Your child can get exposed by crawling around the house and then putting fingers in mouth (extremely common behavior). The dust that's in one area can quickly spread around.
Again - it's microscopic, so you can't see it. If you have a pile big enough that you can see it, you've got a serious problem.
Lead dust is the major way that kids get poisoned - not paint chips as is commonly thought. It's primarily the dust that poisons the kids.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
