CNN: A little lead won't kill ya...don't panic
Tue Aug 14, 2007 at 12:27:19 PM PDT
You know, just when I was comfortable with pretending my coffee is laced with acid in order to watch the morning news on CNN without screaming at the screen, Sanjay and the CPSC decide to blow my freaking mind.
Now, I'm a parent and an educator for kids with special needs, so I realize that I'm pretty sensitive about the innuendo in this morning's reports about lead in our kids' toys http://www.nytimes.com/...
but I don't think I'm out of control in my outrage over this. Watch Sanjay's "message" saying "DON'T PANIC" about this and try really hard not to say "Fuck You" I dare you.:
http://www.cnn.com/...
Are you hearing this? DON'T PANIC, it's lead poisoning, and according to Sanjay, all you have to do is go to the doctor and get your babes tested for lead IF you're worried. That's it. What's the problem? DON'T PANIC. This is all perfectly fine. The simple pin-prick test is easy, not an inconvenience to bring your kid to the doctors IF you're even actually concerned. Got that? IF you're concerned.
Lead disrupts the functioning of almost every brain neurotransmitter, says David Bellinger, Ph.D., a psychologist and epidemiologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers between the body's nerve cells. The messenger calcium, for example, is essential to nerve impulse transmission, heart activity, and blood clotting, but if it doesn't work right, affected systems may also be askew.
"Lead fits into binding sites that calcium should," Bellinger says, "so it can disturb cellular processes that depend on calcium. But there's no unifying theory that explains in detail what lead does to the central nervous system, which is where lead typically affects children."
Bellinger estimates that each 10 mcg/dL increase in blood lead lowers a child's IQ about 1 to 3 points.
"Symptoms of lead poisoning can be highly variable depending, in part, on the age of the child, the amount of lead to which the child is exposed, and how long the exposure goes on," says pediatrician Randolph Wykoff, M.D., FDA associate commissioner for operations. Children exposed to lead may have no symptoms, he says, or may report sometimes vague symptoms, including headache, irritability or abdominal pain.
While a child's chronic exposure to relatively low lead levels may result in learning or behavioral problems, Wykoff says that "higher levels of exposure can be associated with anemia and changes in kidney function, as well as significant changes in the nervous system that may, at extreme exposures, include seizures, coma and death."
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/...
If the pin-prick test gets pesky and shows a higher level of lead than is OK then all YOU have to do is get YOUR kid some more blood tests. That's it, what's the problem? Just some more blood tests. DON'T PANIC that there's poison in your babies' toys that made it into their blood during the most fragile part of their brain development. Just get the blood tests, what's the big deal?
And hey, if there turns out to be a higher level of lead than acceptable, well, there's this process called chelation to remove it. Easy-peasy, just go right in and get it done. DON'T PANIC. Just bring the kid in and order this up:
Chelation is a chemical process in which a substance is used to bind molecules, such as metals or minerals, and hold them tightly so that they can be removed from a system, such as the body...
In the case of EDTA chelation therapy, the substance that binds and removes metals and minerals is EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid), a synthetic, or man-made, amino acid that is delivered intravenously (through the veins). EDTA was first used in the 1940s for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning. EDTA chelation removes heavy metals and minerals from the blood, such as lead, iron, copper, and calcium, and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in treating lead poisoning and toxicity from other heavy metals.
What's the big deal? A little Chelation and you're good to go. DON'T PANIC. Go shopping.
Chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun) is used to remove heavy metals from the blood. It's approved for acute lead poisoning. The risk is that, in addition to toxic metals, it removes vital minerals from the body.
http://www.webmd.com/...
The most common side effect is a burning sensation experienced at the site where the EDTA is delivered into the veins. Rare side effects can include fever, hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure), hypocalcemia (abnormally low calcium levels in the blood), headache, nausea, vomiting, and bone marrow depression (meaning that blood cell counts fall).
http://nccam.nih.gov/...
So there's some lead in our baby's toys. No biggie. DON'T PANIC. Besides which, lead can make it into your baby's blood stream from other places too. Like if you have a dog and the dog digs around in some lead contaminated soil and then rolls on your carpet and then the baby ingests it. So please, don't blame the toy companies that make toys for babes that are supposed to be safe. Don't even THINK about doing something crazy like sue them if your kid is poisoned, it could've been that time your dog was out digging in that lead-contaminated soil you've got your geraniums in.
For God's sake, what's the matter with YOU? IF you are concerned about this, all YOU have to do is get your babe lead tested, you're supposed to do that anyway, what's the big deal?
So don't think about Fisher Price/Mattel buying crap that poisons your baby from China made by people working for slave wages. Some of them may even be child slaves, but please don't get in a tizzy over it: http://ihscslnews.org/...
or they may be mentally handicapped and forced to work. No worries.: http://www.blogrunner.com/...
It's all under control. China executed some guy and the other one responsible committed suicide, so it's all good.
Hey, the CPSC has addressed your concerns IF you are concerned, what's the worry? DON'T PANIC. And don't test for lead yourself, 'cause that just makes you worry needlessly. IF you're concerned, go get your baby's blood tested. It's so simple:
NANCY NORD, ACTING CHAIRMAN, CPSC: First we are announcing several recalls involving the Mattel company. Second, I want to put these recalls in perspective. Third, I want to address the concerns parents have about children's products. And fourth, I want to tell you what the CPSC is doing to ensure the safety of products imported into the United States.
Today, the CPSC is announcing the voluntary recall of more than 9 million children's toys manufactured by Mattel. These are being recalled for two reasons. First, some have magnets that can become dislodged and fall out of the toys. And second, one of the recalled products has lead paint...
Now with respect to the lead issue, more than 250,000 Sarge die- cast toys are being recalled because the surface paint contains lead. The toy is a promotional product from the movie "Cars" and looks like a small military Jeep. Lead can cause adverse health effects if ingested by young children. There have been no reported injuries with the product, but because the adverse affects of lead are cumulative, it is important to remove any accessible lead from a child's environment.
Lead paint has been banned in this country since 1978. Even so, each year there are new cases of lead poisoning to children. Old lead house paint is far and away the leading cause of lead poisoning to children. If parents are concerned about lead exposure, they should have their child tested for lead poisoning. It is a simple blood test. If parents are concerned about the presence of lead in their home, then a hired professional can determine its presence.
Home test kits are not a reliable way to determine the presence of lead in the home or in products. By using home test kits, consumers are provided with what can be false and misleading information that can cause unnecessary concern...
And please, don't take it out of PROPORTION. None of the parents that didn't know there was lead in these products have reported a problem. From the same CPSC bimbette today:
In today's environment, it is easy to take recalls out of proportion. Nine million products is certainly a lot of products, but by no means is it the largest recall this agency has done and it represents only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of toys that are sold in the United States every year. There have been no reported injuries involving any of these products. And in an abundance of caution, the scope of these recalls is intentionally large to prevent any injuries from occurring.
Toy recalls are emotional because they impact children. The CPSC is dedicated to keeping all consumers safe, but we act especially swiftly and we speak loudly when the recall impacts our most vulnerable population group, our children. The CPSC is dedicated to keeping the U.S. consumer marketplace the safest in the world. Of the agency's 409 recalls this year, 44 have been toys. These recalls make clear that when a product poses a possible hazard or violates U.S. law, there are consequences.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/...
Please, IF you're concerned YOU take responsibility and get your baby lead tested, what's the matter with YOU anyway? Don't get all emotional here. It's just your kid.
Don't think about how the free-market idiots have deregulated everything and don't give a shit if our babies are poisoned. Don't do that for a minute. Don't think about holding Fisher Price/Mattel or any other company responsible, just keep buying their products blindly. Don't wonder why CNN and other media outlets are telling you not to panic instead of acknowledging the outrage that this is. And for God's sake, don't contact your representatives and tell them you don't want to live in a country where our most vulnerable, our own babes, suffer along with the vulnerable in China because the bottom line is some greedy assholes will stoop to anything, even turning their heads to poisoning our children, to make a buck.
http://www.visi.com/...
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