From The New York Times:

It may be one of the most beloved activities of hyperactive children and the parents who love them: bouncing in a bounce house. But, according to Attorney General Jerry Brown of California, it may also be toxic.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday by Mr. Brown’s office claims that some of the inflatable bounce houses that help entertain — and exhaust — the young guests at children’s parties have unsafe levels of lead, sometimes dozens of times the federal limit.

The suit was prompted by a an investigation by the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, Calif., an advocacy group that tested dozens of bounce houses, concentrating on the vinyl that gives them their bounce.

Lead levels in the vinyl, the tests found, varied from 5,000 parts per million to 29,000, far above the federal limit of 90 to 300 parts per million.

Charles Margulis, a spokesman for the center, said he was not saying that children should stop using the houses, but that they should wipe their hands and faces afterward.

Dr. Megan Schwarzman, a family physician and an associate director at the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, said that she had not seen the test results, but that there was no safe level of lead exposure for children.

Lead exposure can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From SILive.com (Staten Island, NY):

A traditional morning sickness remedy, commonly known as calabash chalk, has been found to contain lead and arsenic, the New York City Health Department announced today.

The agency warned pregnant women against using the product, found in stores that sell African remedies. The Health Department was alerted to the potential hazard by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Lead poisoning can cause problems in pregnancy and can lead to learning and behavior problems in young children. Long-term effects include nerve disorders and brain damage.

Arsenic is also a poisonous metal that can increase the risk of cancer, skin lesions, eye irritation and nervous-system disorders.

Anyone who has used calabash chalk should immediately stop using the product, call a doctor to order a blood-lead test and keep them away from children.

From HealthDay:

Lead may play a role in the development of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research suggests.

In one of two recent studies examining the possible link between lead and ADHD, the researchers found that children with ADHD had slightly higher levels of lead in their blood than did children without ADHD. The second study showed an association between elevated levels of lead in children's blood and parent/teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms, including both hyperactivity and attention problems.

In both studies, the link between lead and ADHD was independent of the children's IQ, family income, race or whether their mothers had smoked during pregnancy.

The findings strongly suggest that lead may be a cause of ADHD, according to Joel Nigg, a psychological scientist at Oregon Health & Science University. He said that lead might disrupt brain activity in a way that leads to hyperactivity and attention problems.

The studies are published in the February issue of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science.

From Baltimore News.Net:

A battery factory in the south of China has been closed down due to a lead poisoning scare.

Excessive amounts of lead in the body can harm the nervous and reproductive systems and cause high blood pressure and anemia. In severe cases, it can lead to convulsions, coma and death.

44 children living in the area were found to have excessive levels of lead in their blood before the city's environmental bureau took over the battery plant to conduct tests on the factory's water discharge.

Officials found lead content exceeding provincial safety standards in the water.

From Occupational Health & Safety:

OSHA's office in Kansas City, Mo., announced Tuesday a special regional emphasis program aimed at reducing occupational exposure to lead, which the agency said is one of the leading causes of on-the-job illnesses for workplaces under its jurisdiction in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

The potential for lead exposure depends on the industry, but generally speaking, lead is an ingredient in thousands of products widely used, including lead-based paints, lead solder, electrical fittings and conduits, tank linings, and plumbing fixtures.

Some common operations that can generate lead dust and fumes include demolition operations; flame-torch cutting; welding; use of heat guns, sanders, scrapers, or grinders to remove lead paint; and abrasive blasting of steel structures.

"Occupational exposure to lead continues to be one of the most prevalent overexposures found throughout industry," said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City. "It is imperative we do all we can to reduce that exposure to workers. This special regional emphasis program will serve to amplify OSHA's commitment to ensuring the safety and health of workers in all occupations."

This program will set targeted inspections in industries or workplaces where there is a potential for lead exposure, and also will cover complaints and referrals regarding lead exposure.

From HealthDay:

Exposure to higher levels of environmental lead earlier in the life span may be taking a toll on the brains of older American women, a new study finds.

The Harvard study shows that women aged 47 to 74 who tested positive for lead in their blood (indicating a recent exposure to the metal) or bones (an indication of cumulative exposure over the life span) did somewhat worse on cognitive tests than those who did not show signs of lead exposure.

In the study, the researchers noted that regulatory changes phased out higher lead content in products such as gasoline during the 1980s, so that lead is at a relatively low level today.

So, only those women with lead biomarkers found in their tibia bone, an indication of long-ago exposure, scored poorly enough to be considered statistically significant, according to the study.

The study, which analyzed lead levels and cognitive scores in almost 600 women from the Boston area, is in the April issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Findings in this study are important because of their long-range consequences on the public health of an aging generation," the journal's editor-in-chief, Hugh A. Tilson, said in a journal news release. "Impaired cognition and cognitive decline in older women are associated with heightened risks of dementia, physical disability, hospitalization and reduced quality of life in later years."

From the Associated Press:

In a stunning improvement in children's health, far fewer kids have high lead levels than 20 years ago, new government research reports — a testament to aggressive efforts to get lead out of paint, water and soil.

Lead can interfere with the developing nervous system and cause permanent problems with learning, memory and behavior. Children in poor neighborhoods have generally been more at risk because they tend to live in older housing and in industrial areas.

Federal researchers found that just 1.4 percent of young children had elevated lead levels in their blood in 2004, the latest data available. That compares with almost 9 percent in 1988.

"It has been a remarkable decline," said study co-author Mary Jean Brown of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's a public health success story."

The 84 percent drop extends a trend that began in the 1970s when efforts began to remove lead from gasoline. The researchers credited continuing steps to reduce children's exposure to lead in old house paint, soil, water and other sources.

The study was being released Monday in the March edition of the journal Pediatrics. It is based on nearly 5,000 children, ages 1 to 5, who were part of a periodic government health survey.

The government considers levels of at least 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to be elevated, although research has shown that levels less than that can still cause problems including attention and reading difficulties. There is no known "safe" level, the study authors noted.

Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a lead specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who wasn't involved in the government study, said lead levels have probably continued to decline since 2004. But the findings show "we need to still continue to be aggressive" with prevention efforts, he said.

Lead-based paint in old housing, which can contaminate house dust and soil, is the main source. Children also can be exposed to lead in water, mostly from old plumbing pipes, as well as toys and certain folk medicines.

From the Associated Press:

The Environmental Protection Agency has released data showing levels of arsenic more than 100 times safe levels in the water after a coal ash spill that flooded an East Tennessee neighborhood.

The EPA has said that sediment and water samples from near the spill were above federal maximum levels for contaminants. The data released Friday showed total arsenic levels in one water sample was 149 times the maximum level.

And from The New York Times:

An environmental advocacy group’s tests of river water and ash near the site of a huge coal ash spill in East Tennessee showed levels of arsenic, lead, chromium and other metals at 2 to 300 times higher than drinking water standards, the group said Thursday.

The findings far exceed levels reported by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency or the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Those agencies have reported elevated levels of thallium, lead and arsenic found near the spill but have not released the full results of those tests.

The T.V.A. and the state have released only the results of tests on water sampled from the Tennessee River just after the spill at a spot six miles away and upstream of the ash flow, which showed that the water at that spot met drinking standards.

The ash spill occurred Dec. 22 when an earthen dike at the Kingston Fossil Plant, a T.V.A. coal utility, gave way, spreading a billion gallons of wet coal ash, known to contain heavy metals, across about 300 acres and into tributaries of the Tennessee River.

The independent test results were released by Appalachian Voices, an environmental advocacy group based in Boone, N.C. The tests were conducted using standard E.P.A. methods, said Dr. Shea Tuberty, an environmental toxicologist at Appalachian State University who helped analyze the results.

Paul E. Davis, the director of water pollution control for the Tennessee environmental department, said he would have his staff compare the results of the tests with other sample results. “If the work that Appalachian State has done indicates that there’s been a violation, we’re very interested,” Mr. Davis said.

Appalachian Voices sampled water from three locations — near the spill site, about half a mile downstream and about two miles downstream — and found eight metals that exceeded drinking water limits. At the two-mile point, arsenic was at a level 35 times the drinking water limit. The group also expressed concern that standards for fish and aquatic life, which are stricter than drinking water standards, in part because heavy metals accumulate in animal tissue over time, had been exceeded.

“These are some of the most astonishing water-quality sampling results I’ve ever seen in my 10 years of working on rivers,” said Donna Lisenby, a spokeswoman for Appalachian Voices who helped collect the samples.

A news release from the group included a statement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chairman of the national Waterkeeper Alliance, who said, “Although these results are preliminary, we want to release them because of the public health concern and because we believe the T.V.A. and E.P.A. aren’t being candid.”

Jim Allen, a spokesman for the power authority, said, “T.V.A. has every confidence in the integrity of its sampling methodologies as well as those of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Environmental Protection Agency. T.V.A. also is obtaining independent sampling.”

Mr. Allen said he could not say why the agency had not released the full results of the samples that had been tested thus far.

Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., said she was waiting for results to release to the public. “I’m getting that question daily, believe me,” Ms. Niles said.

From the washingtonpost.com's The Checkout:

(There) is a recall of 3,000 "Newport" cribs and 6,000 matching furniture pieces made by Munire Furniture of Piscataway, N.J. for having lead paint in excess of federal limits.

The paint in question was a red paint underneath a darker top coating--still accessible of course, especially by teething babes and toddlers who like to gnaw on the rails.

The cribs cost about $600 a pop and the matching furniture had price tags between $700 to $1000. They were sold between April 2006 and November 2008 in specialty children's furniture stores.

The company says it has received one report of a child having ingested lead and being diagnosed with lead poisoning.

What I found interesting is that the Munire site contains the following statement:

So how did they all miss the lead paint, then? I'd be curious to know how many samples were tested, how those samples were chosen, and more about who wielded the lead paint brush. 

From The New York Times:

Like many people these days, Lori Potter, a 50-year-old massage therapist living on Kauai, Hawaii, has explored alternative healing for everything from headaches to skin problems. So when she wanted to boost her immune system and lower her stress levels a few years ago, she made an appointment with a visiting practitioner of ayurveda, a medical system that originated in India thousands of years ago and has gained wide popularity in the United States.

He prescribed herbal supplements, which he tested himself for impurities, to help boost her immunity. Soon, Ms. Potter said, she felt more energetic and her digestion was better. After two years, the practitioner stopped visiting the island, and she has not taken any supplements since, she said, because she has not met any practitioners she trusts.

“You never know what’s really in these supplements,” she said. “This is serious stuff, and you can’t just take them without knowing the source.”

Ms. Potter may be right to be wary. A report in the Aug. 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly 21 percent of 193 ayurvedic herbal supplements bought online, produced in both India and the United States, contained lead, mercury or arsenic. Almost all of the products were sold through American Web sites. “Some manufacturers advertised that they test for metals, and their products still had them,” said Dr. Robert B. Saper, assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. The average consumer, he said, “has no way of determining which supplement is free of contaminants and which isn’t.”

No one knows the exact numbers of arsenic, mercury or lead poisoning illnesses in the United States related to ayurvedic medicine. Dr. Saper estimated that there have been 80 cases since 1978, but he believes that is just the “tip of the iceberg.” In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 12 cases of lead poisoning associated with ayurvedic products in Texas, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York State and California.

While the Western medical community may be concerned about Dr. Saper’s findings, many ayurvedic practitioners and holistic health centers are less so. Of the dozen spas, wellness centers and practitioners contacted for this article, all said they stood behind their products. Some suppliers said they believed that the levels of heavy metals in their ayurvedic products were no greater than in many Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines.

Kevin Casey, the chief of Banyan Botanicals, a maker of ayurvedic products in Ashland, Ore., sells three items that are on Dr. Saper’s list of contaminated supplements.

After the study came out, Mr. Casey said, some of his 15,000 clients, who include practitioners and consumers, called. He said he alleviated their fears after he explained that his products are sent to outside laboratories, and they meet “the standards that we adhere to.”

He added that sales had not suffered since the study, which has “created a dialogue — people are talking about it and understanding that there is the presence of heavy metals, but it doesn’t mean it’s toxic or dangerous.”

Dr. Saper disagreed. Even with relatively low levels of lead in the bloodstream, he said, “a person can be relatively asymptomatic but the lead can still impact their I.Q. It can reduce their cognitive function and increase blood pressure.”

The F.D.A. does not specify maximum acceptable concentrations or daily dose limits for contaminants in dietary supplements. Instead, the onus is on the manufacturer to ensure that its products are safe. What’s more, there are no universally accepted standards for herbal supplements. The Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organization Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives Secretariat recommends that a 70-kilogram, or 154-pound, person consume no more than 250 micrograms of lead, 50 micrograms of mercury and 150 micrograms of arsenic per day.

The National Sanitation Foundation International Dietary Supplement Standard, which certifies dietary supplements and ingredients for purity, suggests a daily limit of 20 micrograms of lead, 20 for mercury and 10 for arsenic. California Proposition 65 has limits of 0.5 microgram of lead per day and 10 micrograms of arsenic per day. (There are currently no guidelines for mercury.) But, as Wynn Werner, president of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association pointed out, California does not prohibit sales of these products, but “rather requires a specific warning to the consumer if a product contains these elements above its limits.” None of the tainted supplements in Dr. Saper’s study met the standards for lead set forth by California Proposition 65.