Wednesday, December 5th, the San Francisco Dept. of the Environment will use a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer to test toys for lead, cadmium, and other harmful chemicals. The testing is free and available to everybody.
These chemicals have been linked to a wide array of health effects, including reproductive and hormonal disruptions, developmental and learning disabilities, and cancer. Babies and young children are uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemicals in toys since their brains and bodies are still developing and because they frequently put toys in their mouths.
Also tomorrow, a coalition of national environmental health groups will release new research ranking chemicals in over 1,500 toys.
At www.HealthyToys.org parents will be able to check how a variety of products rank from highest to lowest in terms of various heavy metals.
On December 11 and again on December 13, from 10am to 12pm, the San Francisco Dept. of the Environment will again offer free public toy testing at the EcoCenter at 11 Grove Street in San Francisco.
WHAT: Representatives from San Francisco’s Department of the Environment will use an “instant read” testing device to determine whether sample children’s toys are hot with lead, cadmium, or other toxic compounds.
Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Christmas in Union Square, concerned parents and children will line up at the testing station with toys from home, or with toys intended as presents. Technical staff from leading environmental health and children’s organizations will be on hand to answer questions.
WHEN: Wednesday, December 5, 2007, 11am
WHERE: Union Square, near the Christmas tree
WHO: Representatives from SF Environment, Center for Environmental Health, Environment California, Breast Cancer Fund.
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2 comments:
In case you missed the opportunity for free lead testing, I read about a California company that you can pay hourly to inspect your children's toys. Their website is www.Inspectatoy.com and their phone number is 1-888-ISPYLEAD. For a reasonable fee they can scan toys, cribs, bibs.. Hope this helps!
I have been looking around for testing devices that are affordable enough to perform the in-house testing of our products. Similar to the one at the ISPYLEAD site I found Skyray XRF to be a good option - does anybody know about them? Along with the other ones (Innovex and Nitan) the Skyray XRF one seems good option.
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