Today AB 2694, the nation’s toughest ban on lead in children’s products, passed out of the Assembly Health Committee and heads to the Assembly Floor. The bill is authored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and sponsored by CALPIRG and Environment California. As recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, AB 2694 would ban on lead in all products intended for children age twelve and under, using a 40ppm standard.
“We’ve known for more than a generation that lead exposure results in significant harm to children’s health, and yet current law still allows for unsafe levels of lead in toys. This bill would follow the doctors’ orders, and ban lead in all children’s products,” said Emily Rusch, CALPIRG Advocate.
There is a very clear link between blood lead
concentrations and a drop in IQ in children. Lead exposure also can result in
learning disabilities and attention deficits in children. In 2006, a four year
old in Minnesota died of lead poisoning after he
swallowed a bracelet charm that contained 99 percent lead. However, even trace
amounts of lead can pose a safety risk to young children, since lead accumulates
in the body and children absorb lead much more readily than adults do. An
estimated 310,000 children in the United States between 1-5 years old
have levels of lead in their blood that could be harmful to their health. AB
2694 would significantly lower the allowable amount of lead in paint on toys
(from 600 ppm to 40ppm), and also extend the ban to other components of
children’s products not covered by current law.
