Accidental Blogger

A couple of days ago, headlines from the usual news websites surprisingly led with the accusation that the US government had hidden data on the levels of lead in vinyl backpacks, toys and other articles from the consumers.

"In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunch boxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe — and several had more than 10 times hazardous levels. But that’s not what they told the public. Instead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement that they found "no instances of hazardous levels."

And they refused to release their actual test results, citing regulations that protect manufacturers from having their information released to the public. That data was not made public until The Associated Press received a box of about 1,500 pages of lab reports, in-house e-mails and other records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed a year ago."

Hmmmm. Not made public until the FOIA request. AP to the rescue of the unwary consumer, gallant knights to fair ladies indeed.

Yet, we have this Greenpeace article
on the dangers of vinyl in consumer articles (no raised eyebrows on the
source please, just read the article and appendices- they have been
quite thorough in their investigations) dating back to 8/14/2003.

"A
Greenpeace investigation revealed the presence of hazardous levels of
lead and cadmium in a variety of vinyl conscproducts(sic), including
items specifically designed and marketed for children. The study was
spurred by the discovery of hazardous lead levels in vinyl blinds and
associated lead poisoning of children in 1996.Link(added,not in original)
Since no government agency appeared to be investigating whether other
vinyl consumer products might also pose a similar health risk,
Greenpeace initiated a nationwide study of vinyl products"

It
sure makes me want to run out to the nearest hardware store to get a
lead testing kit and run my own series of tests on my kids’ backpacks,
lunch bags and winter coats before I make my family run screaming for
their lives from all things PVC.

In the meantime, shareholders all over the place get reassuring newsletters along the lines of this masterpiece   of Muzak
from Addenda, a maker of additives for PVC manufacture.According to
them,there’s nothing wrong with exposure to the lead-based additives,
since each human reacts differently to the environmental load of
pollutants and not all will be showing any signs of health problems
related to the exposure.

"Does Evidence of Exposure Mean Adverse Health Effect? Not
necessarily!" shouts the article heading, along with a supporting link
to achs.com(sic) when what was meant was www.achs.org,
which claims to debunk commonly held ‘Health Myths’ while
oxymoronically accepting ‘no strings attached’ money from corporations.

Interestingly, the president of the organization Dr. Elizabeth Whelan was among the earliest to start the drumbeat for mandating Gardasil (
the HPV vaccine made by Merck) with the following erroneous statement
in an article published in June 2006 in the Washington Times:

"We
should be able to alleviate ethical concerns by taking three
complementary steps:    1. Make it well known that the new vaccine,
when used appropriately, will virtually eliminate cervical cancer.    … "

Even
Merck doesn’t claim that the vaccine can virtually eliminate cervical
cancer, especially since it targets only viruses known to cause 70% of
the cervical cancer cases. What about the remaining 30% of the cancer
cases?Just more suspicious pablum being purveyed much ahead of Governor
Rick ‘Goodhair’ Perry’s executive order erupting into controversy this
year.(Update: Merck’s cold feet)

But  I digress. Back to the lead story.

While companies here either brush off the environmental concerns, or try to find ways to circumvent them, as in this patent
that provides a look at a chemical that could reduce the availability
of lead to be found in conventional testing methods for heavy plastics
(perhaps in anticipation of future testing requirements for lead in
these) -Cheat sheets, anyone?

"A polymeric
polyvalent metal aromatic polycarboxylate is used in vinyl halide resin
compositions containing heavy metal stabilizers to reduce extractable heavy metals from molded resin products when tested by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) of 40 CFR 261." (emphasis mine)

Others
are trying the opposite approach of genuinely switching to options not
known to be toxic at this time. For instance, this Japanese company was
ahead of the curve by trying to move away from lead based additives in
PVC for electrical wires and cables: Link

"With
the present trend toward eliminating risks to the environment,
electrical appliance and motor vehicle manufacturers have already taken
the lead in promoting green procurement and eco-projects, giving
preference to the purchase of raw materials having reduced
environmental impact".

That was as
far back in 1999, which is when the Addenda letter was talking about no
impact on health from environmental exposure to PVC additives. US
companies are only 4 years or so behind the times and the Japanese, as
this 2003 blurb from another company shows:

"…
new vinyl insulation compounds provide the high level of electrical
performance needed in wet-location industrial and appliance wiring yet
contain none of the lead-based heat stabilizer formulations
conventionally used in wire for such applications"

Bottom
line: Be an aware consumer, reduce your risks and exposure where you
can, and trust to a triumph of mind and medicine over matter for the
rest.