Vinyl school lunch boxes may contain unacceptably high levels of lead. The Consumer Product Safety Commission knows this and doesn't seem to really care.
A few states have put recalls into place in the last two years, among them California, Illinois, Connecticut and New York. But as of last year there was still no movement by the federal government on the issue.
The FDA issued a warning, but the CPSC did its best to negate it. The difference of opinion between the two agencies depended upon testing methods. The FDA, using more strident methods discovered some childrens lunch boxes contained as much as 9600 part per million of lead. To be LEGAL they are not supposed to exceed 600. Connecticut places the limit at 100 ppm. As opposed to tearing open the lunch box and dissolving it in solution, which was the FDA's method, the CPSC did a simple swab test of the questionable lunchboxes. They repeatedly swabbed the same area so that as they tested lead levels actually decreased.
In addition, some children's lunch boxes contain a tag that may say "tested lead free" or something similar. There are reports that the methodology behind these claims could not be reproduced or backed up, so that in essence if you have such a tag you shouldn't believe it.
For more information see: http://www.parentdish.com/2007/02/20/lead-in-lunch-boxes-but-no-cpsc-recall/
http://www.cehca.org/LatestNews.htm
and to find out how to test your child's lunch box see:
http://www.cehca.org/TestYourChildsLunchBox.htm
3 comments:
Thank god for brown paper bags. Made with post consumer recycled consumer content of course.
Lead is bad? What are you going to tell me next... toys from China are bad??
Fill me in here, I'm lost. Plus I am still trying to sort out what the freak "all the mandelas" means.
Forgive my smart ass reply, I am just sick of this culture of ours that trades all things for the ability to make a few more dollars.
My Addam's Family lunchbox came with a whole range of poisons, as well as a noose and a dagger!
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