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Posts Tagged ‘lead test’
Top 5 Sources Of Lead Around Your Home
I decided to write a top 5 after years of yelling about home lead contaminates. Please, please, please get your child a blood lead test if you believe that there is even a remote chance of lead exposure.
1) Vinyl mini-blinds from Asia or Mexico.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported ,as of 1996, that Twenty-five million non-glossy, vinyl mini-blinds that where made in China, Taiwan, Mexico, and Indonesia where found to contain lead. They basically announced that ALL imported vinyl mini-blinds contain lead. I would not even mess around with them. Forget the lead test. Just get rid of them. The problem is that every time you open and close them they could potentially release lead particles. Sunlight breaks down the vinyl which creates lead-contaminated dust. THROW THEM OUT. Aluminum blinds are fine. Either lead test the blinds or The Department of Environmental Quality reported that these blinds can be identified by doing the following,
“Scrape the blinds with a knife and if the paint comes off, they’re metal. If the mark remains
the same color, it’s probably vinyl. Or, tap the blinds with a metal object such as a knife and
listen to the sound. Third, the slats can be inspected at their edges-if the color is the same
as the top and bottom of the slat it probably is vinyl. If the color is bright aluminum it is not
vinyl. Fourth, the brackets holding the blind are usually easily determined to be either vinyl
or metal.”
2) Christmas Lights and Older Fake Christmas Trees
I have never performed a lead test on Christmas lights, exterior and interior, that did not fail. I am not saying that they don’t exist but what I am saying is that I have tested hundreds of these lights and all of them would harm a child’s future. If you’re interested, Cornell University did a disturbing study that you can find here. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov08/leadXmasLights.sl.html
It’s a very impressive paper that was published in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health. Thank you Lelia M. Coyne and Mark R. Pierce for your work. You study was one of the drivers of my lead test site.
3) Electrical Cords
The majority of Electrical cords contain lead. There are a few manufactures that make cords that are lead free but lead has been used to help fire proof cords since there where power cords. Keep your kids away from them or replace them with ones that are lead free. We have all be disturbed by that warning from the state of California that states,
“WARNING: Handling the power cord on this product will expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause [cancer and] birth defects or other reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER HANDLING”
What pisses me off about this warning is the “known to the State of California” bit. Yeah just California knows that lead will destroy your child’s future.
“I have lead tested many power cords and extension cords. Trust me, they contain lead. “ |
I have lead tested many power cords and extension cords. Trust me, they contain lead. Some had so much lead in them that the lead test almost glowed pink. Wash your hands after you handle any type of power cord. The most egregious ones where those brown power cords that you probably found in your garage from the former owner/renter. Perform a lead test on them or just throw them out. Buy lead free ones.
4) The soil around Your Home
If your home was built prior to 1978 I would just assume that the soil around your home contains lead. Prior to 1978 lead was in most paint both exterior and interior. Over the yeas lead leached down the side of your home and into the ground.
5) Water
Lead levels in your water are likely to be highest if your home that has lead pipes and or copper pipes with lead solder. Plumbing installed prior to 1930 probably contains lead pipes. Plumbing installed prior to 1985 may contain lead solder in the copper joints. Brass faucets and ball valves may also contain lead.
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Horse Toy Figures Fails Lead Test
15,000 horse toy figures have been recalled by Blip toys today. They where sold by Walfart (walmart) between January 2009 and July 2009 for about four bucks. I know this will come as a huge surprise but this little gem was made in China. Can you believe that? This pestilence peddler’s recall involves Nature Wonders HD pinto horse toy figures with model number 92093. It failed the CPSC’s test for lead in paint.
Quick Facts About this Poison:
1) Sold In walmarts
2) 15,000 in the wild
3) Sold between January 2009 and July 2009.
4) Price: $4
Why did it take so long to tell the public about this product? This product was sold over a year ago.
Pitchforks and Touches anyone?
Tags: CPSC, lead test, test for lead in paintRelated posts
Lead Based Paint Test Kits
Lead Based Paint Test Kits
Lead oxide has been used as a white color base in paints for hundreds of years. One could assume that before 1940 all paints contained lead in them. House paints, artistic paints and every paint in between contained titanium dioxide as it was cheap to produce and gave paints a wet look that held up far longer than normal paints.
If you live in a home built prior to 1978 I would just assume that you have lead paint somewhere in your home. More than likely it’s been painted over many times but it’s still there. Check4Lead.com sells Lead Based Paint Test Kits that will help you find lead in your home. There is no safe level of lead in a Childs blood.
Tags: Lead Based Paint Test Kits, lead testRelated posts
Old Homes Are Full of Lead
Lead was used as pigment with lead (II) chromate (PbCrO4, “chrome yellow”) and lead(II) carbonate (PbCO3, “white lead”). Lead was originally added to paint for many reasons but the most important to the original manufactures was that lead helped the paint resist moisture that caused corrosion. Perfect attributes that paint needed.
“Homes built in the 50’s will probably fail an exterior paint lead test.” |
My father in law was a chemical engineer at DuPont for many years. When I asked him the reasons for the lead additive he gushed at leads ability to keep rust off the oil derricks that he happen to specialize in. He also mentioned that the lead also gave the paint a wet look as if it had just been painted on. Now I am not sure why that would appeal to an oil derrick but I can definitely see why the consumer market liked this poison so much. It’s pretty and cheap as dirt.
I live in central Florida where most of the houses in the downtown area where built between 1920’s and 1950’s which was lead chromates prime time. Most houses that were built in the 50’s contain lead paint somewhere. If you scrape off enough exterior, of a house built in the 50′s, it will fail a paint lead test. If you have old cabinets, which have not been painted over 10 times like the exterior, it would probably fail a paint lead test.
Tags: lead test, paint lead test
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Big Rex and Friends Cloth Books Test For Lead Paint
204,000 Big Rex and Friends cloth books have been recalled. Marketing giants such as Barnes & Noble, Toys “R” Us, Amazon, Borders and other retailers nationwide have been selling this trash from May 2004 through October 2009. These goodies cost around $9 so I can imagine that they are everywhere in terms of sheer numbers of homes.
This recall is more then a bit disturbing as it shows that products are still getting through our safety nets. Chinese manufactures are not held accountable for anything. I am sure that St. Martin’s Press LLC, of New York, N.Y. did not want this to happen. So who should be held responsible for these toxic IQ / future destroying products? Ultimately children and their parents will forced to carry this burden. Do you think St. Martin’s Press LLC will be pay for all of the ailments that the effects of lead poisoning? Which product gave you child lead poisoning exactly? You see that is a very hard question to answer as lead is cumulative. Can you prove that your child ingested the lead in this product or was it the extension cords or Christmas lights? Which ones failed a paint lead test?
Parents……Only you and your children will be bare this burden. I think its fire and pitchfork time. St. Martin’s Press is only a symptom of the greater problem. Nothing will change until the consequences for poisoning our children are so severe that product manufactures will be afraid to not do the right thing.
“To the person who wrote this disingenuous apology. Damn you and your apology.” |
If the CEO of a toy manufacturer poured poison in my sons juice box he would go to jail for the rest of her life. How is it that that same person, through negligence, produce a product that produces a similar outcome not go to jail?
Open Google and paste in “We apologize for this inconvenience. Big Rex and Friends Cloth Books.” To the person who wrote this disingenuous apology…..Fuck you and your apology. How about…. “We are sorry for the possible lifetime of hurt we have caused. We are sorry for the 4am screaming and crying that we have caused.” Damn you and your products.
Scott
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Timberland Fails Lead Paint Test
Timberland’s Classic Scuffproof Boots failed CPSC’s test for lead paint and has recalled 21,000 pairs of boots as of December 16, 2009. Apparently the Timberland logo that was stamped into the insoles of the boot violated the federal lead paint standard. The model numbers, listed below, can be found on a white tag inside the boots.
Timberland-Boot fails Test for Lead Paint
The boots are wheat-colored leather and were sold in toddler size 4 through junior size 7. Shoe stores and specialty retailers nationwide from June 2009 through October 2009 for between $50 and $70.
For additional information, contact Timberland at (800) 445-5545 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.
These boots have been on the shelves for four months so the probability that they are already in the homes on the feet of children makes me more then a little upset. How is it that these boots made it through? How did they slip through the lead paint test of our watchdogs?
| Model Numbers | Manufacturer/Date Codes |
|---|---|
| 34772 | 6456 6556 6656 6756 6856 |
| 34872 | |
| 34972 |
Related posts
Christmas Lights Fail Test for Lead Paint
Lead In Christmas Lights
As early as 2008 a lead study was performed by Lelia M. Coyne, a chemist and lead risk assessor in Nebraska, and Mark R. Pierce, a Cornell extension associate in Laquatra’s department (what ever that means). The two researchers did extensive lead tests on 10 sets of indoor/outdoor Christmas lights bought in the 1970’s and lights bought in the 2008. The lead levels where nearly indistinguishable. The 10 sets of lights had similar lead profiles even though they were bought almost 40 years apart. The test for lead paint that they used showed that 2-5 percent of the PVC jacketing contained lead. You can read more about this study here.
This year I tested every set of Christmas lights I could find. I did not find a single solitary set that did not turn our lead test kits red. You have got to be kidding me? How is this even possible?
“What I took away from the study was that there was no low safe level of lead in a child’s blood.” |
So I was reading about another study conducted by Jusko et al. in the mid nineties of children in Rochester New York. The study concluded that significantly lower IQs could be directly contributed to lead levels. What I took away from the study was that there was no low safe level of lead in a child’s blood . Lead, at every level, caused IQ problems.
I can’t stress this enough. Follow your doctors guidelines and get you child tested for lead. Replace your Christmas lights with certified lead free ones. If you don’t know that there is a problem than you can’t affect change. If you suspect anything in your house buy a Test for Lead Paint or get a professional to root out this plague/IQ robber.
Tags: lead test, lead test kit, lead test kits, lead tests, Test for Lead PaintRelated posts
Lead Check Swabs
The lead check swabs that we sell on this site where developed by Dr. Marcia Stone who holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized this lead test for their ability to find lead on surfaces. To find out more about the effects of lead poisoning please read more in our blog.
Tags: Effects of Lead Poisoning, How To Test Lead, lead testRelated posts
How To Test Lead
The process for how to test for lead has more then a few options. If your looking to test paint because your rehabbing a old home you may want to goto a professional. But if your worried about a toy that your parents re-gifted to your daughter then the person lead tests are for you. We sell lead test kits that contain swabs that look like the picture below.
Picture of Lead test Swab
Inside there are to glass containers that have to chemicals in them that when mixed together turn red when in the presence of lead.
Simply crack the the two glass containers that are contained in the cardboard tubing, mix and then rub on the suspect toy car.
Good luck,
Scott
Tags: how to test for lead, How To Test Lead, lead test, lead test kit, Testing for leadRelated posts
Lead Check Swabs
Check4Lead.com is an Lead Check Swabs online store and blog that we hope will give you the information and tools, such as a Lead Paint Test, to keep lead from harming your family. Many homes built before 1978 have lead-based paint. The federal government banned lead-based paint from housing in 1978 but some states stopped its use earlier. Millions of toys have been produced that contain lead as it extends the life of paint and stops corrosion. A Lead Paint Test can help you root out lead contaminates in your home.
Tags: lead test