Get lead out of children’s products!
Parents, doctors, and health advocates are urging the Department of Public health to prohibit lead in toys and other children’s products.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has proposed a regulation to ban dangerous levels of lead in toy jewelry.
However, companies add lead to many other children’s products, like PVC bibs, rubber ducks, car seats, lunchboxes, and more.
Infants and children put all kinds of items into their mouths, including toys, and the lead, a potent neurotoxin, builds up in their bodies.
“Even the smallest amount of lead is poisonous to children, and we must do everything in our power to eliminate it from all the products we make and all the homes we live in,” said Dr. Sean Palfrey, medical director of the Boston Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (AHT) and the Massachusetts Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics are calling upon the DPH to ban the sale of all products intended for use by children under 12 which contain more than trace amounts of lead.
“This regulation should not just be about jewelry; we should prevent lead poisoning by keeping it out of all children’s products, rather than react to the problem with recalls,” said Lee Ketelsen, of Clean Water Action. “Product recalls happen after kids have already been exposed to lead.”
