The Issue
Lead
Chronic exposure to lead is a well-known threat to health, especially for children, but it’s still a persistent problem. EWG’s research continues to track and uncover lead’s hazards.
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The Latest on Lead
Three common environmental chemicals - lead, organophosphate pesticides and methyl mercury - may have effects on children's IQ in the overall population.
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers have detected lead in 400 brands of lipstick tested by the agency. At least two popular brands had amounts of the neurotoxin above the threshold the state of California considers safe in personal care products, which is 5 parts per million.
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In 2007, two members of Congress traveling on a tax-funded junket scolded a Chinese government official over tainted Chinese-made products, including lead-tainted children's toys, being exported to the United States.
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On Jan. 4, President Obama signed into law theReduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act. The law will reduce the amount of lead allowed in faucets and plumbing fixtures to a tiny fraction of the old limit - from 8 percent to 0.25 percent.
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High-level lead exposure is a known risk for kidney disease. A new study sought to better understand the effects of low-level exposure, and found evidence that kids with blood lead levels as low as 2.9 micrograms showed signs of damaged, slower-functioning kidneys.
Read MoreLaboratory tests commissioned by EWG have detected as many as 232 toxic chemicals in cord blood samples collected from 10 minority newborns. Notably these tests show, for the first time, bisphenol A (BPA), a plastic component and synthetic estrogen, in umbilical cord blood of American infants.
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It's the Thursday before Halloween and my kids haven't quite decided what to be. Top runners at this point (it changes daily) are pretty standard: witch and princess.
Read MoreBack in August of 2007, I was trying to work on vacation. I was squirreled away in a back bedroom surrounded by files and books when I got a Google alert. Millions of toys were being recalled because of dangerously high levels of leads.
Read MoreI live in an old house (1911) and used to work in affordable housing, so the dangers of lead paint aren't new to me. And with toddlers around for years now, I know to avoid paint chips in the mouth and lead dust in the air. What I didn't connect - until recently - was that there might be lead in our soil, which is where we grow food.
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If you follow scientific news on autism, then you've probably noticed frequent reports of new discoveries of genes "linked" to the "disease."
Read MoreYesterday Janet Raloff of Science News wrote about a new study linking lead levels in older women to an increased risk of mortality. Women whose blood lead levels measure > 8 micrograms per deciliter were a whopping 60% more likely to die during the study. The main reason was heart disease and stroke. Since about 90% of accumulated lead is stored in our bones, elderly women are at increased risk because the loss of bone density releases lead into circulation in the bloodstream.
Read MoreThe Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, aimed at keeping lead and toxic plastic chemicals called phthalates out of children's toys, went into effect yesterday.
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When are traces of lead in drinking water dangerous? The better question is, when aren't they?
Read MoreResearchers have found a shockingly high lead levels in the blood of young Washington, D.C. children tested between 2001 and 2004, when the District of Columbia's drinking water was being contaminated with lead from aging pipes.
Read MoreI suffer every spring in Washington DC because of the smell of the fake grass that surrounds my apartment building, my walk to work, my walk in the park, my walk pretty much anywhere.
Read MoreEWG's Renee Sharp testifies to the California state Senate about the need to remove BPA and lead from children's products.
Read MoreIn what is only the nation's second largest toy recall this year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall of more than one million lead-painted toys.
Read MoreWhen University of California-San Francisco researchers and health affiliates investigated an outbreak of lead poisoning in Monterey County, California, they found a correlation between consumption of certain imported food products—particularly chapulines (dried grasshoppers) from Oaxaca, Mexico—and elevated blood lead levels in prenatal women and children.
Read MoreDid you know that many cosmetics have a shelf life of only one year, and the applicators of some products, like eyeliner, need to be washed or discarded even more frequently? According to the FDA, failing to do so can lead to bacterial infection.
Read MoreQuestion: There's an internet rumor that says you can check for lead in lipstick by rubbing a gold ring on the lipstick. If the lipstick turns black, it contains lead. Is there any truth to this?
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