TOYS THAT REALLY DO MAKE OUR CHILDREN VIOLENT. The New York Times reports today that lead paint continues to be a problem in children's toys in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, most come from China. The consequences can be deadly:
Jewelry is perhaps the most dangerous place for lead because children can swallow an entire ring or pendant, causing acute poisoning, which can cause respiratory failure, seizures and even death, whereas neurological damage and learning deficiencies are often associated with exposure to lead paint. Many children also tend to suck on jewelry or put it in their mouths, allowing lead to be absorbed into their bloodstream.
From 2000 to 2005, about 20,000 children turned up in emergency rooms after ingesting jewelry, according to a hospital surveillance program by the agency, though it is not know how many of those cases involved lead. These cheap products, made of lead because it is an inexpensive metal filler, also easily fall apart, making it even easier for a child to swallow a small part.
Of course the dramatic cases of respiratory failure and seizures are probably a small problem compared to the insidious effect of lead paint on children years after they are exposed to it. Exposure to lead levels in childhood even accounts for much later variation in criminality (see here and here for more). This is yet another example of why we have to inspect imported products more carefully. The costs of doing so are tiny compared to the costs of avoiding it. --Sam Boyd
