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.