CNN: Lead-laden lunchboxes OK'd by government

[DeepModem Mom]

Lead-laden lunchboxes OK'd by government
February 18, 2007


A researcher with the Center for Environmental Health, displays a swab with pink coloring indicating lead contamination on a lunchbox in Oakland, California, in January.

(AP) -- In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunchboxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe -- and several had more than 10 times hazardous levels.

But that's not what they told the public.

Instead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement that they found "no instances of hazardous levels." And they refused to release their actual test results, citing regulations that protect manufacturers from having their information released to the public.

That data was not made public until The Associated Press received a box of about 1,500 pages of lab reports, in-house e-mails and other records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed a year ago....

***

"They found levels that we consider very high," said Alexa Engelman, a researcher at the Oakland, California-based Center for Environmental Health, which has filed a series of legal complaints about lead in lunchboxes.

"They knew this all along and they didn't take action on it. It's upsetting to me. Why are we, as a country, protecting the companies? We should be protecting the kids. I don't think in this instance they did their job."...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/18/lunchbox.lead.ap/index.html

[WCGreen]

1. Follow the money.....

Their children do not eat from lunch boxes so they caer little about how they are made...

But more than likely, there are campaign contributions at root...

[HereSince1628]

2. More proof the GOP proving government is incompetent

It certainly seems to be that way when it is in their hands.

Seems to me the Cheenee administration missed the opportunity to qualify these as chemical weapons they could intercept at the border. Just think of the favorable numbers that would have given the extraCons when talking about intercepted attacks on the nation.

[Generic Brad]

23. This is worse than incompetent

It's as if the GOP want the rest of us dead.

[WePurrsevere]

3. This is outragious! You don't take risks like this with CHILDREN's health!

Our children's health and well being should ALWAYS take precedence over the greed of corporations. There is absolutely NO excuse for this. :grr:

As far as I'm concerned this is just another incidence that proves that gross incompetence and negligent has become synonymous with the Bush* Co administration. I can only hope that it defines the RepubliCON party for many generations to come. :grr:

[shraby]

14. I believe that's criminal negligence.

[UpInArms]

4. the BFEE's contra-government

when the government actively acts against its citizens.

[salin]

5. bushco again trumps reagan

the Reagan admin began the blind rush towards 'deregulation' to make things easier for business. Bushco has not only gone further on the deregulation march - they have time and time again lied to the public, on behalf of some corporate interest - and done direct damage to the public's health and/or security.

When I read the first couple of lines I thought "so why even go through the sham of 'testing' for safety to begin with just issue the report?" Then I read further - they were forced externally into undertaking the testing.

How many other examples of their putting the pubic at-risk are their that are not yet known? Far too many, I would bet.

[tanyev]

6. The legacy of the Bush administration: No Company Left Behind.

[all.of.me]

7. No Children Left Behind

or

No Healthy Children Left Behind

or

Nerve-damaged Children Left Behind.

Either way, the admin wouldn't care, because the children are not fetuses!

This is outrageous. I wonder if brown paper bags are safe.

[Toucano]

8. Where is the conscience?

Someone has to go to PRISON for this!

I won't accept a resignation and then forget about it. The people responsible for this fraud must be jailed.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. George Bush channels Irwin Mainway .......

.... and his infamous toy, "Bag-O-Glass" (from SNL)

[area51]

26. Hi, hope you're feeling better. (n/t)

[Mrs. Overall]

10. Great, I've been plopping an apple into my son's Igloo lunchbox

without putting the fruit in a bag. From what I understand, un-bagged fruit is one of the main ways children ingest the lead.

List of offenders:
The brands that have tested high include Generation Sports, Frozn/Ingear, Roundhouse/Targus, Crayola, American Studio, Igloo, Sanford, Fast Forward, Arizona Jean Company, JC Penny, Lisa Frank, Animations/Accessory Network, Holiday Fair/Mischief Makers, Extreme Gear/Romar, SubZero/Global Advantage, Chill, Big Dogs, Childress baby bottle carriers, Innovo, East End Accessories/Worldwide Dreams. Not all lunchboxes with these brand names necessarily contain lead.

I am so angry right now...

[Divine Discontent]

25. I am SO sorry that this happened to you

that is a horrible feeling I'm sure... do what you can to make sure those who were behind this, pay with a heavy sentencing by a judge!

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[ohio2007]

11. Made in CHINA ?

from the article;
.....
In response to the FDA warning, Wal-Mart stopped selling soft lunchboxes with vinyl liners, and offered refunds to customers who wanted to return the ones they already had.

"The safety of our customers is always a top priority for Wal-Mart," said store officials in a written statement last summer.

.....

hmm.
well, I'm surprised no mention of where the products were made.

Well, how convenient to overlook the real story

[Toucano]

17. Yes. From the article:

Lead is a stabilizing agent in vinyl, but there are other chemicals that can be used instead of lead. Almost every lunch box found with lead in the vinyl lining was made in China.

[RamboLiberal]

12. Is Bushco still doing a weekend recess appt of this hack?

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/cpsc_appointment.html

February 16, 2007

Baroody

Insiders say that Michael Baroody, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a powerful trade group that opposes aggressive product safety regulation, is President Bush's choice to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The CPSC is currently powerless to enact new rules or levy fines because it has had only two commissioners since Chairman Hal Stratton, another Bush appointee, abruptly resigned six months ago to become a lobbyist.

Bush is expected to make his appointment during the long President's Day weekend, while Congress is out of town.

The White House refuses to comment. Spokesmen there have not returned seven phone calls from ConsumerAffairs.Com over the last week and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have had no official word on whether an appointment is pending.

But David Baker, a lawyer who represents companies before the CPSC, said he has heard from a number of "private Republican lobbyists" that the appointment "is likely to be a recess appointment."

[uppityperson]

13. 1 problem is putting ice in it, it melts, contaminates whatever is exposed.

We were using these in LA/MS after Katrina to keep med supplies cool, and bottles of water. Fill with ice, put stuff in it, let ice melt. I wonder about bigger soft ice boxes too since this is what happens with them a lot.

Next BIG gripe: They knew and didn't take action!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Toucano]

18. They did take action!

They changed the testing procedures to reduce the contamination that was found, and then they lied and said the bags were safe.

[AikidoSoul]

28. The fed. agency strategy: do not seek and ye will not find anything wrong to hurt manufacturers

... but the feds like to make the public think they're doing their job, so they do busywork, put out press releases, and as far as testing products is concerned they look in the wrong place, run tests that can't find anything, or look for only select ingredients, not the entire product (especially problematic with products like pesticides. Neither do the agencies require comprehensive science that tells us how many of these substances affect us. Very little data exists on most synthetic chemicals for example.

These problems are huge and growing.

This is but one tiny example of how all of us are paying a huge price in both our taxes and our health.

These federal agencies have become nothing more than a legal mechanism set up to buffer corporations from the public.

With so many legal loopholes in place for corporations now, it's nearly impossible to hold any of them responsible even under defective product liability laws.

Add to that the official statements from federal agencies that serve to obfuscate the truth from the public -- this creates enormous obstacles for the injured public to overcome.

Suppressing data, or refusing to require that it be produced, are but two of the strategies created to make it nearly impossible to get justice -- and of course it makes it impossible to trust anything that these agencies "regulate".

The burden of proof is now completely on the victim to prove harm. A huge, expensive proposition for anyone.

Now that class action suits are nearly impossible to file -- those with lead poisoning, or any other type of poisoning for that matter, are required to file lawsuits on a one-by-one, individual basis.

Then... when these cases get filed they are most often settled out of court with the plaintiff having to sign a statement saying that NOTHING learned in the proceedings may be made public.

That means that every victim who comes along has to start again from scratch.

Any legal fees incurred by these companies is considered to be the "price of doing business" and is far cheaper than creating goods that are safe for the public.

This is especially true of synthetic chemicals and many medical therapies and devices.

It can be argued that in the case of the chemical / pharmaceutical industry that it is in its best interest to slowly poison the public and thereby create chronic illnesses --developing an ever expanding market for their drug divisions. Since very few doctors are trained to recognize toxicant induced illnesses -- this creates a great legal environment for these companies.

In the case of lead lunch boxes -- I can't see how these companies can profit from our declining health and brain power. Lead is one of the few substances that have been adequately tested to see how it affects the human brain. If you look at the history of lead science in this country, you can see that it took decades to produce the science that shows devastating damage to the developing brain, including the loss of IQ. Even small amounts can reduce it by several points.

These lunch box companies are using toxic processes and substances -- which is permitted partly because of international trade laws. These serve to bypass any local regs for health and safety -- which are not being enforced anyway -- for many economic, industry influenced reasons.

Another thing that folks need to know about is the recycling of haz waste into products. The U.S. has played a leadership role in recycling haz waste as it is so beneficial to toxic industries' who now pay far less for getting rid it because it's allowed to be recycled. EPA has interpreted the laws of haz waste strangely. If it is heading toward a superfund site it's toxic waste, but if it's put into products -- it is reclassified as "product", not waste... with no penalties incurred by industry.

[pinniped]

15. This should not come as a surprise. These are the criminals who told people the air was safe....

to breathe after the WTC came down.

[TexasLawyer]

16. You're doin' a heck of a job, Consumer Product Safety Commission

!!!! Government lie factory hard at work for YOU!!!

[progressivebydesign]

19. This is what America gets for importing everything...

no control over what goes in it.

[dunn]

20. More evidence thier trying to dum us down.

"Studies have repeatedly shown that childhood exposure to lead can lead to learning problems, **reduced intelligence**, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder."

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

31. trying? they already have..

[depakid]

21. Non- CNN linkage to the AP story:

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/02/19/a1.lunchbox.0219.p1.php?section=nation_world

[josewelder]

22. Irresponsible Bastards

Well I just threw my kids Dora lunch bag into the garbage. I discussed this with my Wife and fortunately we always either put food in a zip lock or a plastic container(even the ziplocks are recycled). I do worry however that her spoons, etc. do not go into a separate sealed container. I have a cousin who is a chemist and I am going to ask if she can test the bag to see if it is actually unsafe. It might be that after 2 years of use it is now perfectly safe. If I find damage I will report it to the authority where I live in Mexico. Here the Govt. is always looking for a reason to restrict Chinese imports and this could be a good one. The only bad thing might be that I bought it on a trip home to the USA.
Fuck all these people. How dare they feign that they care for the citizens and the children of the USA when all they do is screw us for a few pennies when it is to their convenience. I am pretty sure that little king George ate from some kind of lead lined container and this is why he is such a sociopath. I am never moving back to the USA. I love it but I left anyways,.

[AikidoSoul]

32. Here's a link to cheap, effective lead testing swabs--they will turn pink if the item has lead

They're easy to use and only take a few seconds to show results. This link will also point to a rather startling number of other sources of lead in the home. (Neither I nor anyone in my family has financial ties to this company).

http://www.leadcheck.com/LeadCheckSwabHU.shtml

Other sources of lead in the home will amaze you. I didn't realize until a few years ago that even plumbing pipe fittings are still legally allowed to have lead, as does solder used for metal plumbing joints.

Here's a shocker: nearly 70% of porcelain tubs have large amounts of lead that can leach -- as do multiple other home items and products.

We test almost everything in our home and offices because of the problem of hidden lead -- especially items that come in contact with food.

Think of this -- every one of the companies that make toxic products will make the argument that a little bit poison won't hurt you ("the dose makes the poison" argument)and regulators also spew this as part of regulatory hype. BUT this stand fails to take into account at least three important things. (1) we are being exposed to thousands of chemicals and heavy metals which ADD UP. (2) Many of these BIOACCUMULATE. (3) SOME of these substances are actually MORE dangerous in very small amounts compared to larger amounts -- a phenomenon known as the "non-monotonic dose response curve" (NMDRC). This comes into play with an increasing number of chemicals, most notably endocrine disrupting estrogen mimickers that are now found in a wide array of products. See more about this topic here:

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/newscience/lowdose/nonmonotonic.htm

Lead has been studied for decades and for most of that time government officials said it was not very harmful. It took a very long time to convince them that it is in fact highly toxic to the brain even in tiny quantities. It was only a few years ago that the "allowable exposures" was dramatically reduced to reflect this problem.

Our challenge as caretakers -- we hardly ever know when we're being exposed so it's impossible to protect our families adequately.

One thing for certain, neurotoxicants like lead, other heavy metal brain poisons, and petrochemical brain poisons like solvents and pesticides --should be outlawed in anything that children touch, eat, or breathe.

[sakabatou]

24. I'll stick to a brown bag...

[AikidoSoul]

27. All federal "safety" and "public health" agencies have been corrupted by corporations

This has happened incrementally over the decades but has accelerated outrageously under the Bush administration.

Federal agencies still have good people working there, but many complain bitterly about the devastation to science caused by the corrupting influence of industry. If workers speak out about it, they are harassed, demoted, re-assigned to obscure posts, and/or fired.

[redqueen]

29. "family values"... who still buys this crap?

these people care about MONEY and nothing else... that's all there is to it.

[Up2Late]

30. Bastards!

Grrrrrrrr!:grr: