Latest Lead Stories

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is delaying the requirement that children's toys, books, clothes and jewelry be tested for lead and phthalates. The rule, part of a ban on selling children's items containing the chemicals that goes into effect Tuesday, was delayed until 2010. Under the new law, children's products with more than 600 ppm total lead cannot lawfully be sold in the United States. The total lead limit drops to 300 ppm in August. Once the testing requirement goes into...

The number of children affected by an increase years ago in the lead levels of water supplies in the District of Columbia is still unknown, U.S. scientists say. A new study of the District of Columbia water crisis that took place between 2001 and 2004 was unable to accurately pinpoint the number of likely victims, with estimations ranging from 700 to tens of thousands, The Washington Post said Saturday. We suspect that there are thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, of children who have...

A buildup of lead from earlier exposure may be enough to result in greater cognitive problems after age 55, U.S. researchers found. Researchers at the Graduate School of Public Health and the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh followed up on the 1982 Lead Occupational Study, which assessed the cognitive abilities of 288 lead-exposed and 181 non-exposed male workers in eastern Pennsylvania. All the workers were given the Pittsburgh Occupational Exposures Test battery, which...

Cumulative, not current, lead is linked to subtle deficits in workers tested at age 55 and olderBoth the developing brain and the aging brain can suffer from lead exposure. For older people, a buildup of lead from earlier exposure may be enough to result in greater cognitive problems after age 55, according to a follow-up study of adults exposed to lead at work.A full report appears in the January issue of Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.From the...

NEWTOWN, Conn., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- issued the following statement in response to study results from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture claiming 5.3 percent of whole cut venison donations, processed for a Minnesota food donation program, contained "very small amounts" of lead fragments: The question of whether traditional...

Pregnant women and young children in North Dakota are being advised to avoid eating meat from wild game killed with lead bullets, health officials said. A study released Wednesday examined the lead levels in the blood of more than 700 state residents and found that those who ate wild game killed with lead bullets appeared to have higher lead levels than those who ate little or no wild game.Although the elevated lead levels were not considered dangerous, pregnant women and children younger...

By Helen Collis Thieves have got away with thousands of pounds' worth of lead roofing stolen from houses, building sites and even churches, it has been revealed. Between April 2007 and April this year, there were 441 reported cases of lead roofing theft in Devon and Cornwall - but only 16 resulted in prosecutions. The number of cases of this type of theft has rocketed, but only about 3 per cent of the criminals who are stealing the valuable resource are ending up in front of the courts....

By Matthew Spina The top lawyer for Erie County Executive Chris Collins wants county agencies to start destroying older records, including the inspection reports that still help families sue landlords when children are poisoned by lead-based paint. County Attorney Cheryl A. Green also told the Legislature on Thursday she will not abide by its measure to protect inspection reports more than seven years old by designating them "historic" documents. She said the Legislature is treading on...

CHICAGO, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 recently approved the Michigan Department of Community Health's Lead-based Paint Pre-renovation Education Program. The new state program requires construction contractors, property managers and others who perform renovations for compensation to distribute the lead pamphlet "Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home" to owners and occupants before starting renovation work. The rule applies only to...

By Geoffrey Lean ENVIRONMENT EDITOR Studies show that toxic metal remains in the body years after it was banned from fuel, contributing to dementia and other disorders Millions of people will grow old faster than they should because of past exposures to lead in petrol, a startling series of studies indicates. The studies, carried out at American universities, show that the toxic metal - which has remained in the bodies of everyone born in Britain before it was finally banned from fuel at...