Thomas The Train and Friends Toys Recalled

[Mk]

Thanks for bringing that up. I never ate my toys when I was little. If your child eats toys... You might have a bigger problem than paint.

How many toys would the child have to eat for it to be a health hazard?

The safe level for lead in the fetus and toddlers is ZERO. It affects the development of the brain and central nervous system. The child doesn't have to chew on the wooden toys to be exposed. As the toys bump and rub together the child ends up with lead dust on his/her hands which gets transferred to the mouth. The dust can also be inhaled. That is why lead based paint was banned in 1978.

What I meant was—

You might say that ionizing radiation, or smoking has a safe level of ZERO. But getting an x-ray (or stepping outside for that matter), or smoking one cigarette is generally not considered harmful from negligibility. What I was asking, was that if this train set was more like getting an x-ray or not. Because it is only a little bit of paint on a few toys probably with a finish over it. That's what I was thinking.

 

[edward]

What I meant was—

You might say that ionizing radiation, or smoking has a safe level of ZERO. But getting an x-ray (or stepping outside for that matter), or smoking one cigarette is generally not considered harmful from negligibility. What I was asking, was that if this train set was more like getting an x-ray or not. Because it is only a little bit of paint on a few toys probably with a finish over it. That's what I was thinking.

It was a lot of paint on millions of toys. I gave a link to the EPA indicating that each of the toys had enough lead content to drastically affect the IQ of a toddler. I am thinking that it was a minimum exposure of 10mcg per sq cm. Even that figure has now been disputed by recent medical studies. I don't think there is anyway to quantify or compare a toddler chewing on a toy to an X ray because of the variation of lead exposure.

Ionizing radiation and smoking affect people later in life and even at that not all people are affected the same. The affect of lead in children, is identical, immediate, and irreversible.

You are assuming that there was a non toxic finish over the paint. I am assuming that their was not. The only non toxic sealer that I know of is soy based and very expensive.

Regardless a child chewing on the toy would dislodge both sealer (finish) and paint.

Try to understand that the toys went to the one segment of the population most likely to be affected by lead and most likely to be exposed to it by their actions.

It is not like a kid stepping out for a smoke.