Toronto Water Lead Testing

Back in October 2008, we'd had our water tested for lead levels by the city, and blogged about it. A recent study has implied that if you have a partial pipe replacement at your home, your lead levels may spike rather than going down, and that it might be better to leave old lead pipes in place than to replace part of the pipe (although a full replacement is still an improvement).

Having read this, I inquired if a friend had had his area's pipes replaced, and when he said that they had, I suggested he consider getting his water tested. I pointed him to our blog post and he looked into it, and has discovered that the process has changed somewhat. When we had our water tested, the city dropped off a sample bottle and picked it up again. Now, you have to go and pick up the bottle and drop it off, which is probably a sensible optimization on the city's part, although it is obviously less convenient. The locations and process are are documented on the City of Toronto website.

So if you're interested in having your lead level tested in Toronto or if you've had a partial pipe replacement, this might be a good time to go read up on getting your lead level tested.

Toy Thursday - BPA

This week toxin is BPA.

Many of you already have swapped out all your plastic baby bottles for BPA free ones; but did you know many toys also contain BPA.

Lets first look at what is BPA. BPA is short for Bisphenol A; Bisphenol A is "a difunctional building block of several important polymers and polymer additives ... Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s."1

"More than 200 animal studies show that BPA is toxic at very low doses, while the Centers for Disease Control has found BPA in 95 percent of people tested at levels that raise health concerns. The peer—reviewed science suggests that BPA may be contributing to increases in many adverse health conditions in the human population including breast cancer, prostate cancer and insulin resistance."2

In Canada it's very hard to find a baby bottle made of BPA these days, but 1000's of toys that are made from plastics containing BPA line the shelves in our our toy stores. Most people think that you can only get BPA from food but that is not the case. "While most exposure is through diet, exposure can also occur through air and through skin absorption."1 And that would be whi I classify BPA toys as toxic.

Before you start betting yourself over for letting your child play with plastic, I will admit even Christophe has a few plastic toys, we have legos and this ball and tower thing that is made from plastic (they were both hand me downs); however the majority of his toys are BPA free.

How do you avoid BPA in toys:

1. Don't buy plastic toys
2. If you buy plastic make sure they are labeled BPA free
3. If no label exits, take the time to contact the manufacturer and ask them what kind of plastics are used in the manufacturing of the toy. You would be surprised how quick you are will get an answer.
4. Stay away from toys made from polycarbonate usually labeled as number 7.

BPA is not the only type of plastic that is toxic in future weeks we will look at phatale and PVC.

I think it is also worth mentioning other areas that you or your child can be exposed to BPA: Infant formula, canned food, fillings at the dentist, plastic dishes, glasses and cutlery, lunch boxes, water bottles, baby bottles, coffee mugs and bottles lined with plastic, food storage containers, and virtually anything made from plastic could be made from polycarbonate.

My recommendation from one mom to another is to avoid as much as possible BPA but if you can not afford to change everthing in your life the main items I would start with are: baby bottles, sippy cups, your childs dishes and bath toys.

If anyone needs ideas on BPA free items ask me I have tones of products I could recomend but that will be for another post.

1- Wikipidia
2- EWG

Toy Thursday - Non-toxic toys

Instead of talking about one toy this week I want to bring up the subject of what is a non-toxic toy. In another post I will look at what makes a toy green; so this post is strictly about chemicals and toxins.

Everyday we make purchases and decisions on behalf of our little ones from what clothing will they wear; to what will they eat; to what will they play with; and everything else they do. Our children are our responsibility and it's up to us to ensure they are safe.

You would think that if a toy has been approved for sale in Canada that it is safe for play; think again everyday toys are recalled. The recalls catch the toys that don't meet the governments standards but are the standards high enough?

Let's look at various toxins that can be found in toys: (because Christophe keeps me extra busy, I am going yo divide this post in sections each one talking about a toxin)

This weeks toxin is - LEAD

We all know lead is bad, it can be found in your water supply, old construction materials, and paint in your home, it has also been known to turn up in painted toys and kids jewelry.

"Scientists have found there is no safe level of lead for children - even the smallest amount effects a child's ability to learn. Children are more vulnerable than adults to lead. Lead impacts brain development, causing learning and developmental problems including decreased IQ scores, shorter attention spans, and delayed learning" 1

Because lead is a natural element it is found in almost everything around us, trace amounts are probably in all toys. What you want is that your toy does not leach lead. Well this should not only apply to toys but to everything in your home; but we are talking about toys.

How do I avoid lead toys, unless you personally test all your toys for lead there is no way of being 100% certain that your child does not own a toy that contains lead but there are ways you can reduce the chance of this happening.

1. avoid buying no-name brand toys
2. avoid buying toys from the dollar store - they are notorious for recalls
3. do not buy second hand toys that have metal bits or paint unless you know the manufacturer. This way you can look up the toy to see if it has ever been recall
4. do not buy metal jewelry - especial cheep jewelry - for young children. Over 20% of children jewelry contain lead.
5. buy a home lead kit test and test some of your toys, the results may surprise you. (I hope that you do not find any lead in your toys buy I would not count on it)
6. my last tip is use your common sens, check up on the company see if they have had recalls in the past for lead, if so how many, how long ago. If the company has a bad reputation and lots of recalls I would personally avoid purchasing from them.

Number 5 said to get a lead paint test kit, these can be purchased at most reputable paint stores.

Additional reading:
Lead saftey in Toys
A third of toys contain detectable lead
Consumer Product Recalls
Product Recalls
Healthy Toys

I leave you with this question: Have you ever had experience with lead in toys? do you have tips on how to help to avoid lead in toys?

1 - Healthy Toys