Time to pack the lunch box again: sandwich, apple, cookies, carrots...but hold the lead.
If your child's lunch box is soft vinyl, it's wise to check for lead before school starts. Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to young children's developing brain and nervous systems. Even at extremely low levels, lead can impair cognitive and physical development. So what's it doing in your child's lunch box?
Lead is often added to vinyl as a stabilizer. It's cheap, it bends, and it helps vinyl bounce back to its original shape.
"Of all the metals, lead is the cheapest and easiest to use," says Dr. Mary Jean Brown, Chief of the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. "Think about a vinyl lunch box-you can mash them up. You can basically run it over with your car and it will keep its shape."
Trouble comes when vinyl gets exposed to sunlight and air. Then the chemical bond between lead and plastic breaks down and creates lead-laden dust. Kids can easily touch specks of lead dust and unknowingly ingest it. "There is no safe blood lead level for kids," says Dr. Brown.
If you click on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website, however, you'll find a different answer. This federal agency tested 60 lunch boxes for lead in 2005 and found "no instances of hazardous levels." Results were below 1 microgram of lead. "This is an extremely low level of lead and does not present a health hazard to children," reads the official website.
What gives? Is lead in a lunch box dangerous or isn't it?
The non-profit Center for Environmental Health based in Oakland, California also tested lunch boxes in 2005 and found 25 percent contained lead. "A lunch box doesn't cause acute lead poisoning," says Charlie Cox, the center's Associate Director, "but lead's impact is accumulative." Dr. Brown agrees: "A child gets a little bit of lead from a lunch box, and little bit from water, and a little bit more from lead dust in the house. We need to take lead out where we can."
Lead hits kids hard since it's a neurotoxin and young brains are growing fast. Lead can permanently damage a child's intelligence, hearing and or kidneys. But lead doesn't stop there. Adults suffer a wide range of problems from mood disorders to blindness. Lead accumulates in the body over a lifetime. A 10-year-old girl with lead in her blood carries the poison into adult life, which can ultimately damage her fetus during pregnancy.
The safety of a lead-vinyl lunch box depends on how you look at it. The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission assumed all lunch box food is wrapped in plastic baggies. The California non-profit worried about kids being kids. "We assumed kids do nutty things, like a kid whose candy bar melted inside the lunch box so he licks it up. Or kids who set their sandwiches down directly on the lunch box," says Caroline Cox, also from the Center for Environmental Health.
Most lead poisoning still comes from lead paint in older, poorly maintained homes, or from renovation that disturbs old lead paint. But since it all adds up, experts warn parents to stay away from unnecessary sources of lead, like lunch boxes.
If you have a vinyl lunch box in the house, test it for lead. You can buy a simple test kit at the hardware store for about $10. Test both the outside and the inside liner. If your lunch box tests positive for lead, ask your local waste department about disposing it as hazardous waste. For the 2007-2008 school season, most lunch boxes on the shelves should be safe. Sixteen major lunch box manufacturers have signed agreements to renounce lead. Look for tags that say "Lead-free" or "EVA" plastic. Better yet, buy a reusable cloth or canvas lunch bag. Vinyl itself is toxic to manufacture and dispose, even if you do hold the lead.
Buy a metal lunch box or a reusable cloth or canvas bag.
Buy a lead test kit at your local hardware store. Tests made for lead paint work well on viny, just wipe the surface of the lunch box and the inside liner. Use extra test strips for lead paint, other vinyl items or old toys around the house.
If your lunch box tests positive for lead, call your local waste officials, and ask them to accept it as hazardous waste. Unless lead is disposed of properly, it keeps poisoning people. Write a letter to the retailer that sold you a leaded lunch box. Ask them to stop selling toxic products to kids. Return the bag, and ask them to dispose of it responsibly (not landfilled or incinerated).
If you're worried about high lead doses, ask your doctor for a blood test. Most insurance companies cover it and Medicare pays for it.
Comments (2)
1. 11/05/2007 09:00:13 AM
Many other vinyl objects might also contain lead... If they can't keep it out of children's lunch boxes, I bet it's in my vinyl cooler too and what about my purse?
2. 11/05/2007 09:02:42 AM
My daughter loves her canvas lunch bag, and I like that it's easy to wash.
