How on EARTH could this still happen in 2007?

lead based paint drys a heck of a lot quicker, looks good and holds the colour

wife says "it's used a lot in the base paint in oil paintings"

.,

I remember hearing that lead was spent uranium...that it had decayed to the point of being radioactively inert. Don't know if this is true. I only remember it as being interesting for is softness and weight. It produces a brilliant white oxide. I suppose it should be banned in the manufacture of sinkers for fishermen for fear it will brain damage the quarry. Dumb fish are no fun.

The company is simply covering all the bases to prevent litigation due to a suspicion of lead being in the paint. Its not like there's some heartless and brainless executive who is laughing maniacally at the thought of poisoning children.

As previous posts have stated, there are numerous reasons why there might be lead present in the paint that are unintentional - accidental contamination, mistakes when ordering, compliance issues with foreign manufacturers.

I won't even get into the issue of exposure and how unlikely there would be problems arising due to lead being in the paint.

Neither did I.

Just made suggestions why they MIGHT.

>> how unlikely there would be problems arising due to lead being in the paint. <<
Do you have kids? Toys go in the mouth and get chewed -- we're not talking about possible exposure (if there's indeed lead paint), we're talking certain exposure for kids younger than a certain age! And even if "not recommended for children under x," if the toy belongs to a kid with a younger brother, he'll surely p[lay with it.

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

From the story

"due to concerns that the paint used on them may contain lead."

Not, "does contain lead"

The paint in your home "may" contain lead, wouldn't know until tested. Then the panic can start

and while I don't have children of my own, I've spent time teaching kindergarten and have 7 nieces and nephews. Children of that age do not usually exhibit oral fixations like toddlers.
If your 4 or 5 year old is still putting things into their mouth constantly, then you should be worried for other reasons.

As for 2-3 year olds using these toys, the parents are being stupid not only because of the paint, but also because of the much greater possibility of swallowing parts.

Thomas for almost 2 years.

......... many human ills.

I suspect I was exposed to it for a longer time that many here, as lead paint was the norm from my baby days and young adultood. (Asbestos, as well.)

Thanks for the suggestion that my exposure over the years could be blamed for my poor choices and mistakes. That could also explain the lucky ones who are free of such foibles.

Those born after the 1970's ight fare better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_paint

Angeline
Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email
semods4@yahoo.com

thought to be harmless by the previous. Smoking comes to mind as a biggie. Men were the heavier users and women caught up eventually. I suppose their kids had some ill effects or permanent damage. Slight oxygen deprivation in the womb and toxins in the lungs later. It was a very long time before smoking was positively identified as a health risk to the user and now it's said to possibly affect anyone in proximity to use. How about the '60s drug culture as well? Are the "boomers" showing side effects?...and all that free "love"? Of course we have today's kids being largely raised on junk food. That can't help. Of course the difference between lead poisoning was that we acted out of ignorance. We can't blame ignorance for some of the wounds we inflict on ourselves today.

?Not Tobacco, free love and junk food.
Did you eat lead paint as a kid?
I hope not.

-Kevin

Angeline mentioned asbestos. As well, the suggestion began (with Edward O.) that, not just illness, but behaviors could have been affected. Angeline, in a sense, echoed the possibility. I just added a couple more thoughts. Nothing in the terms of use forbids straying from the original topic. Sometimes subtopics even, IMO, enhance the original. I'm not seeing the reasoning for your complaint here.

Steve, Any more imformation to contribute to LEAD PAINT and the dangers to young children? Tommy Toys in particular?

-Kevin

It is interesting to note that in the past when smoking was not so demonized asthma (commonly attributed to "second hand smoke" now) was far less prevalent. As a matter of simple fact, asthmatics often RELIED on Cubeb Cigarettes to ease their suffering. The vast majority of genius class persons were smokers. Cancer deaths on a percent to total basis were considerably less than what we have today. Family units tended to be more cohesive and permanent (less divorce) and stress was a far less common fact of life. Violent crime was even less of a factor.

On the surface it would appear that societie's social experimentation has caused more problems than what that same society has blamed as the cause. Even asbestos - millions lived in close proximity but only a relative few have demonstrated adverse reactions to it so it is likely that rather than "the cause" these things are simply a small element among a plethora of others that possibly in combination with heredity indice a lethal reaction. One could say that until man, through medicine, interfered with nature and thus encouraged the continuation of weak genetic characteristics people were stronger and better able to cope with foreign matter purposely or accidentally ingested (consider the tars and harmful chemicals released in a forest fier of simply by burning coal or leaves or fueling a Bar-b-que).

considered to be as "blue collar" as it seems to be today. As for "genius class" persons being smokers, my question would be, "Did they produce the same number of genius progeny as non-smoking geniuses?" Of course that can't be answered. But, I believe the suggestion isn't just what effect a substance has on the user but on subsequent generations...perhaps not even genetically. One might think that those who survive poisoning should produce stronger offspring. As such, a heavy smoker who did not develop lung cancer, emphysema, etc., might have a genetic make up that's resistant to these diseases and be able to pass that on. However, it's been hinted that children born to smokers might have or develop weaknesses due to lower oxygen levels or other toxins in their womb environment. If that was the case, a heavy smoker wouldn't deliver a stronger baby. But, that baby when grown...and if it did not smoke....could have children that were more tobacco tolerant.
In any event, I believe it can be correctly said that bad habits, bad attitudes, and practices that show later ill effects are probably something we're never going to do away with.

Ed, I enjoy your posts, as well as Steven's.
Want to start a new post here on the SE?
How did you go from the dangers of LEAD PAINT from Tommy Toy's Train to asthma, smoking, asbestos and to a BBQ!?

-Kevin

if I could add my two or three cents for my part. I believe this is a natural progression once we see parallels with the original post. There was lead paint used in homes. Lead, apparently, has some good qualities as an ingredient in paint. No one ever considered eating it. Later on, some illnesses in children were traced to peeling paint in older homes. Kids would eat the paint and get sick and sometimes seriously so. It comes under the general category of "whodathunkit". Now, when we find the possibility that lead paint could have turned up in children's toys, we jump up and down and have a hissy fit over it...or some do. Our past ignorances have turned on us in other instances...smoking, asbestos, and other substances that accidentally (or otherwise) end up in our bodies that were once considered rather benign. Smoking isn't a healthy habit and non-smokers prefer to breathe none of it...ever. So, we want everyone around us to either quit or go far away downwind to smoke. As for the BBQ, I wonder how many have enjoyed the smell of the smoke...or maybe even the fuel that lights the fire. Maybe that smoke is not so good for us. Maybe we shouldn't BBQ any more and start a neighborhood campaign to ban the Weber's and Charbroils in the area.

Or, maybe we just need to stop being so reactionary and learn to be more thoughtful. Knowledge gained from past mistakes should make us wiser. But it shouldn't make us annoying and unreasonable.

So that's one way threads bounce from topic to related (or unrelated) topic. Another might be that a post brings a thought to mind that wouldn't stand well on it's own but might add another angle to a topic that's worthy of consideration before folks come to any judgment. My three cents.

since lead based paints on toys (and about everything else) goes back to well before the persons I bespoke, it is conceivable that it was the tapering off of lead based paint ingestion that lead to them OR that the parents of older peoples (yourself included) weren't so materialistic and thus the child had less toys and the paint had been shared by numerous siblings.

Those old "hand me down" toys weren't popular amongst the children of the 50's.

Curiosity, and learning of the world around them through their senses, taste being one of them. Exploration.

Teething.

For that matter, a bad taste doesn't stop kids from continuing to put stuff in their mouths. (Like cleaning supplies kept under the kitchen sink, including lye-based ones.)

I was a pencil chewer in grade school. Guess it was a stress reliever. Little children have worries, too.

Sort of related.....

It must have been an awful experience, because I remember the time I stuck a pink bead up my nose. I don't know why. I reckon because the bead was there, an my nose was handy.

Angeline
Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email
semods4@yahoo.com

I ate a cracker one day that was lodged in the bedframe of the mattress when I was about five years old.
Turned out to be a sliver of Kirkman's soap. I still remember that horrid taste! Yuch!!!

I used to put a 1/2 inch long dowel between the handles under my kitchen sink cabinets to prevent children from opening the doors.
Moved all the really dangerous stuff up to cabinets above our washer & dryer. (DRANO and stuff like that)

I did purchase Tommy trains for my son thirty three years ago. They were manufactured here in the states. Do not know if the paint contained lead or not. I kept the trains for my son. No teeth marks on them.
You never know it seems what is safe.

-Kevin