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In recent months, there’s been a lot of buzz about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act regulations around lead. Plenty of magazines and newspapers have paid close attention since the regulations affect parents and kids (because some toys, especially older ones, contain lead) as well as businesses (because smaller manufacturers have found it tough to comply with expensive lead-testing options). So is all of this getting blown out of proportion? Should we be so concerned about lead in different products?

Lead is useful in things like medical devices, satellites and aircraft because it improves their reliability over time. Most people don’t realize that lead is actually important to have in things like pacemakers but the difference is that lead is inside the device and never comes into direct contact with the patient. When lead comes into direct contact with people, it can get into their body and cause harm, particularly among children.

Parents and companies are right to be concerned about lead content in children’s toys and products. Not only are children more likely to chew on a toy and ingest lead, but children are also much more susceptible to lead’s harmful effects. Children’s constant growth means their bodies rapidly absorb and incorporate almost anything they consume. So lead that’s ingested can have a significant impact since it acts as a neurotoxin, causing brain damage.

It’s because of this that we have standards regulating how much lead is acceptable in different types of consumer products and equipment. Businesses need to protect themselves and their customers and make sure they take the time to measure the lead content in the products they manufacture or distribute. For some companies, particularly small businesses, this can be a real challenge because the standard X-ray fluorescence tools used to measure lead content can be really expensive. Luckily, new XRF tools are emerging (Hello, i-Nalysis!) that make it much more affordable for these companies. This is something that will become increasingly important because without lower-cost tools to measure lead content, companies are putting themselves and consumers who buy their products at risk.

=Drew

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