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Sierra Club, EPA Take Serious Steps to Protect Kids from Toxic Toys
New Efforts to Lower Potential for Lead Poisoning Washington D.C. - In a settlement with the Sierra Club and Improving Kids’ Environment, the EPA agreed to take the first crucial steps today to protect children from toxic toys. This settlement creates a proactive system to lessen children’s exposure to lead. Despite the developmental damage lead causes, the federal government has no idea which children’s products contain lead. Under the new, systematic approach the agency will be able to identify potential problems with lead in children’s products and minimize lead poisoning risks. As part of this agreement, the EPA will ask the Consumer Products Safety Commission to place greater emphasis on quality control for all children’s products. In addition, the agency will tighten safeguards and will take steps to require importers and manufacturers of children’s products to provide health and safety studies on the potential presence of lead in their products. “Common sense says it’s crazy to sell products made out of materials known to be hazardous to kids that they will likely put in their mouth,” said Jessica Frohman, co-chair of the National Toxics Committee for the Sierra Club. “We are pleased that the EPA is finally using its authority to begin to correct this widespread problem.” Laws requiring companies to notify the EPA immediately of substantial health risks from their products have been largely ignored by importers, distributors and retailers, and the EPA will now enforce those standards more stringently. Up to 120 companies who may have violated the law by not reporting dangerous products to EPA will now face greater scrutiny. “I’m very encouraged by steps the EPA is taking to protect our children,” said Janet McCabe, Executive Director of Improving Kids’ Environment. “With its ability to take a broader look at public health, not just specific incidents, the EPA is in a good position to really reduce the risks from toxic toys.” ---------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Lead can affect the brain development of young children and has been directly linked to a wide range of learning disorders. While lead paint in older homes is the major cause of childhood lead poisoning, many children are also being exposed to toxic lead through the toys they love and the products they use. More than 300,000 American children have blood levels high enough to cause irreversible damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Every one of these cases is avoidable. (Tips on keeping children safe from lead toys can be found at http://www.sierraclub.org/healthycommunities/lead/ .) After a child in Minnesota died as a result of eating a pendant containing lead on a pair of Reebok shoes last year, the Sierra Club petitioned both EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission urging preventative action. The Commission granted the petition and has taken steps to ban lead in toy jewelry and now the EPA is taking action as well. For more information visit www.sierraclub.org/lead |
