Why are toxic materials used in consumer products?

The Tampa Tribune explains why lead makes it into our consumer products. In particular they tested reusable grocery bags and discovered that the lead content was likely due to shoddy oversight of subcontractors who use it for making pigments look more vibrant.

Besides causing learning disabilities in children, the toxic chemical lead is especially good at making green inks look greener and yellow inks yellower.

That's the most likely reason why recent tests commissioned by The Tampa Tribune found elevated lead levels in elaborately decorated grocery bags sold at Winn-Dixie and Publix, according to executives in the promotional merchandise manufacturing industry...

...Lead shouldn't be in paint, and there are better alternatives. But making a newly popular item like reusable bags sometimes involves a dizzying array of subcontracting and handoffs stretching around the globe. And, too often, someone, somewhere will substitute cheaper, dangerous ingredients, like lead, to support their profit margins...

Read the full artilce at TBO.com

Tests find high levels of lead in reusable bags

Source: CEH,orgTwenty-one reusable bags sold as alternatives to disposable plastic or paper bags had dangerous levels of lead, according to new test results provided to USA TODAY.

The non-woven-polypropylene bags, sold by chains including Safeway, Walgreen's and Bloom, all had lead content above 100 parts per million — the highest level that many states allow in consumer packaging. The tests were conducted by Frontier Global Sciences for the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), which plans to release the results Monday. The group tested 71 bags and inserts from 44 retailers and organizations.

Often it was the bags' inserts that contained the high lead levels. The Safeway bag inserts had the highest level of lead — 672 ppm — behind only CVS bags recalled in November. Earlier this month, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) reported finding lead levels 15 times the federal limit for kid's products in Disney-themed Safeway reusable bags.

Read the full article in USA Today

Read the press releasse from the Center for Environmental Health

Lead found in Disney shopping bags

TAMPA Disney is the latest big-name company to find reusable shopping bags with its name on it may be tainted with lead.

In this case, a consumer advocacy group Center for Environmental Health tested Disney-themed bags sold at Safeway grocery stores, and found some bags had lead levels as much as 17 times above the federal limits for children's products.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission allows 300 parts per million of lead in products marketed to children. In August this year, that level will fall to 100.

Read the rest of the story byRicharl Mullins at The Tampa Tribune

Or read the press release from the Center for Environmental Health