Diatribune

Marilyn Furer is a grandmother who lives in Mount Prospect, IL, a suburban village located 22 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. In 2005 she had seen a story on a local news station about dangerous lead levels being found in the vinyl in children’s lunchboxes and grew concerned about her school-age granddaughters who were living in Florida. While visiting them, she purchased home lead-testing kits and checked the 5 plastic lunchboxes that the girls owned. Three contained lead and were promptly thrown in the trash.

Soon after, a new grandson was born. Once the baby began teething, Ms. Furer nicknamed him “waterfall” due to the high level of teething drool. She then bought a full compliment of vinyl-backed bibs from her local Wal-Mart. When she noticed that the baby was sucking on the bibs, she remembered the lunchboxes and purchased more of the home lead-testing kits. Of the 20 bibs that Ms. Furer swiped with the tester, 8 tested positive for lead.

In a telephone conversation Ms. Furer told me “…this (the testing swab) turned hot hot pink. It was probably the deepest pink you could imagine. It was beyond my comprehension.”

Lead is even more dangerous to children than adults because:

• Babies and young children often put their hands and other objects in their mouths. These objects can have lead dust on them.
• Children’s growing bodies absorb more lead.
• Children’s brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead.

If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from:

• Damage to the brain and nervous system
• Behavior and learning problems (such as hyperactivity)
• Slowed growth
• Hearing problems
• Headaches

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

The offending bibs were made by Hamco Baby Products under Wal-Mart’s Baby Connection brand name and were sold exclusively at Wal-Mart beginning in 2004. The total number sold were 60,000 in Illinois alone.

Ms. Furer notified the Center for Environmental Health, (the lunchbox lead whistle blower), who commissioned independent testing which confirmed the dangerous lead levels. One bib showed a lead level of 9,700 parts per million (ppm), more than 16 times the legal limit. The CEH initiated legal action.

I contacted Wal-Mart Corporate Communications Demand Media Manger Kory Lundberg who declined comment, but he did send this official statement from Mia Masten, Director of Wal-Mart’s Corporate Affairs, Midwest Division.

Wal-Mart has voluntarily pulled three baby bib products manufactured by Hamco from its store shelves nationwide. The products involved are the Baby Connection 2-Pack Easy Wipe Bibs, Baby Connection 7-Pack Feeder Bibs and Baby Connection 2-Pack Feeder Bibs.

In cooperation with the Illinois Attorney General, Hamco & Wal-Mart are conducting a consumer refund/replacement program for these bibs in Illinois. It is important to note that the consumer refund/replacement program is limited to Illinois due to that state’s specific requirements.

There have been no reported incidents or injuries surrounding these items. We continue to cooperate fully with the Illinois Attorney General on this matter.

Any Illinois customer who has purchased the bibs may obtain a full refund by returning the items to their local Wal-Mart or obtain a replacement by calling 1-877-373-3812.

The Consumer Safety Products Commission (CSPC) has tested these bibs and determined that they do not present a safety hazard. Any questions regarding these findings should be directed to the CSPC.

At Wal-Mart, we are committed to providing our customers with products that meet or exceed safety standards. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers.

Questions about the products’ manufacturing were referred to Hamco. Officials from Hamco have not commented and referred questions to Wal-Mart.

The CSPC released a statement which included the following:

Some vinyl materials, including those used as the front or back of baby bibs, contain lead (Pb) compounds as part of their formulation. Acting on information provided by and in cooperation with the New York and Illinois Attorney Generals’ Offices, CPSC recently tested a wide range of bibs from various retailers nationwide.

The CPSC staff’s risk assessment concludes that none of the bibs that were tested at CPSC’s laboratory would pose a risk of substantial illness to children from mouthing. However, if the condition of a vinyl bib deteriorates to the point that a baby could pull or bite off and swallow a piece of vinyl containing lead, then the amounts of lead consumed could approach levels of concern.

CPSC staff therefore advises parents and caregivers to stop using vinyl bibs in such condition. In the CPSC staff’s view, this step could effectively prevent any significant risk of exposure to lead from these products. This precaution would also protect infants from the risk of choking on loose pieces of vinyl.

Ms. Furer’s take on the portion of the CPSC statement claiming that amounts of lead consumed could approach levels of concern? “No amount of lead is acceptable for infants and children because it’s cumulative.”

The CEH released the following statement:

Today, the Center for Environmental Health announced that independent laboratory tests found high levels of lead in newly purchased baby bibs made by Wal-Mart. The Attorneys General of Illinois and New York also tested the bibs and found similarly high lead levels. Both Illinois and New York took action to protect children from this lead risk, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a scientifically unsupported statement that may confuse parents about these risks, stating that the bibs are only a risk if they “are worn or have deteriorated.” In fact, since infants and young children often chew and suck on their baby bibs, they are highly at risk of harmful lead exposures even from new bibs that repeated tests by three labs have found to have high lead levels.

In January, the Associated Press reported that after CEH exposed high levels of lead in vinyl children’s lunchboxes, CPSC covered up their own test results showing high lead levels in the lunchboxes, and then changed their test method to show artificially lower levels of lead. In that case, CPSC also rejected the findings from independent test results showing high lead levels, while refusing to make public their test data.

CEH is today demanding that CPSC retract its statement on lead baby bibs and calling on CPSC to follow the lead of the state of Illinois by ordering a nationwide recall. “If they refuse to accept the scientific findings of three laboratories, it will be clear that the Consumer Product Safety Commission cannot be trusted to protect children from lead poisoning,” said Michael Green, Executive Director of CEH. “The public cannot have any confidence in an agency that repeatedly minimizes clear and present threats to our children’s health. Americans deserve protection from unsafe products, but CPSC seems more interested in protecting industry than our children.”

It’s worth noting that while Wal-Mart has announced that they’ve pulled the bibs from their shelves nationwide, the recall is only effective in Illinois.

Ms. Furer had this message: “My suggestion to anybody who reads your writing is to use cotton bibs or double the bibs. Throw out your vinyl – backed bibs. Don’t pass them on.”

Cross-posted at Ecotality Blog
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