Lead

What is Lead?

Lead is an element that occurs naturally in the earth’s crust.

Manufacturers often used lead compounds as pigments in paints and dyes, ceramic glazes and in caulk. Lead paint is a major source of lead exposure in children. Exposure may occur when the lead paint deteriorates, chips, crumbles or peels, or during removal of the paint.

Why should you be concerned?

Unlike many other poisons metabolized by the body, the human body does not change the lead into any other form, so lead remains in its original form. Lead is bioaccumulative, distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones before accumulating in teeth and bones.

Lead can enter the body through inhalation, injection, absorption through the skin, absorption from bullets or other foreign bodies.  Most human exposure to lead occurs through ingestion or inhalation; most exposure in children occurs through ingestion.

Lead can cause permanent and irreversible brain damage, particularly in children. Exposure to this heavy metal in early childhood can result in lifelong harm, including lowered IQ and learning disabilities, aggressiveness, and serious effects on health and well-being. In 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that there is no safe blood level of lead in children; the CDC immediately shifted its focus to preventing lead exposure by reducing or eliminating lead sources in children’s environments.

What are legislators doing about it?

Legislators in the United States and Canada are taking decisive action to reduce lead exposure in children. To help protect children, for example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) limits the concentration in all children’s products and some furniture to 0.009 percent (90 parts per million) in paint or any similar surface coatings. The requirement also applies to household paints.

Signed into law on August 14, 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) improved safety of consumer products, including those meant for children. As of August 2011, CPSIA lead content is limited to 100ppm in products designed or intended primarily for children age 12 years and younger, for example.

CPSIA also sets the standard in lead in surface coatings and paint. All accessible component parts of the children’s product must comply with the total lead limits requirement. The limits do not apply to parts of a children’s product that are not accessible to a youngster through normal use or reasonably foreseeable abuse of the product. To be considered inaccessible, the products must be enclosed, encased or covered by fabric measuring 5 cm or greater in all directions. Children’s products must pass applicable use and abuse testing.

States have also taken action. Washington’s Children’s Safe Products Act (or CSPA) sets limits for lead in children’s products that extend outside the scope of the CPSIA to 90ppm. California Proposition 65 requires businesses to notify residents about any significant exposures to specific chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm; it also requires the state to publish a list of chemicals and substances, including lead, which can cause these harmful effects.

The Illinois (410 ILCS 45/) Lead Poisoning Prevention Act prohibits the use of lead-bearing substances and surfaces in dwellings, exposed surfaces, structures, or items used by children and requires warning statements on some lead-bearing substances. The act also allows the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to determine high/low risk areas in Illinois, establishes a procedure for reporting lead poisoning, and allows IDPH to take action on behalf of children with elevated blood lead levels.

Canada has set a number of regulations, such as Surface Coating Materials Regulation (SOR/2016-193), Consumer Products Containing Lead Regulations (SOR/2018-83), and CCPSA Toys Regulation (SOR/2011-17), which limit accessible parts of consumer products to 90 mg/kg of lead when tested in accordance with good laboratory practices.

Why choose a Eurofins company?

Product testing can help manufacturers prove that their products adhere to local and federal standards for lead in children’s products. Manufacturers turn to the network of Eurofins Consumer Product Testing laboratories for analyzing products for the presence of lead and other impurities. Eurofins consumer product testing network of labs use state-of-the-art instrumental techniques that provide accurate and timely results.  Chemical analysis is conducted at Eurofins Product Testing US Inc. accredited chemical testing laboratory based in the Greater Seattle area, which is accredited by PJLA (L20-199), ILAC and CPSC (1556) to ISO/IEC 17025 standards.