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Prevention of Childhood Lead Poisoning and Other Environmental Exposures
Lead remains the leading environmental threat to the health of New Jersey’s children. As the most densely populated state in the Union, and among those states with the oldest and most extensive industrial heritage, New Jersey contains a substantial amount of lead, subjecting our residents to the dangers of lead poisoning.
The legacy of lead in housing, soil and water often creates unacceptably high exposure levels to children, adults, pets and wildlife. The Departments of Human Services, Health and Senior Services, and Community Affairs work together closely to address these issues and to protect our children from becoming poisoned. This page provides links to resources and provides information on how lead harms children and what we all can do to prevent it.
But lead is not the only environmental health threat, especially for children...
Cadmium found in children's jewelry made in China, replacing dangerous lead...  LOS ANGELES - Moving swiftly, U.S. product safety authorities say they are launching an investigation into the presence of the toxic metal cadmium in children's jewelry imported from China after disclosure of lab tests showing that some pieces consisted primarily of the dangerous substance. Cadmium is ranked number seven on the CDC's priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment! Read more...
For more information about cadmium, go to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry page. Plastic toxins - new environmental threats... Since OPDD is charged with educating the public, we have expanded our information to include newly emerging toxins, especially BPA and PVC. Below, you will find links to their pages. Bisphenol A or BPA - found in water bottles and food storage containers... 
Bisphenol A, better known as BPA, is emerging as a possible toxin - especially during fetal development or for newborns - as studies over the past several years are connecting BPA levels to various health problems.
Polyvinyl chloride or PVC - toxins have been banned in toys... but not always in school supplies  Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is a major source of phthalates – which are the same dangerous plastic softeners banned from children's toys in recent years.
The organization MomsRising.org has gathered information about PVC in school supplies, which are often made from materials that were banned in 2008 from children's toys, but not banned from many school supplies and other items for children. Check out our PVC page before you do your back-to-school shopping! Lead is #1 preventable environmental health problem - Here are important resource links & materials... Get the Lead Out – Teachers Manual: Lead poisoning is the nation’s #1 preventable environmental health problem facing children today. This manual is for child care providers and teachers, with checklists and workbook materials.
Get the Lead Out - Parents Manual (pictured above) - We have created this illustrated web page to show step by step measures for parents and families to use in safeguarding children from lead. Lead can be found in the workplace, in homes, in hobby materials, and many unexpected places. Check out this page to see examples.
Keep Our Children Safe from Lead - DHS's Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) through the NJ FamilyCare program - also provides lead poisoning prevention materials. There are English/Spanish manuals for teachers, caregivers, and parents, as well as Lead Poisoning Information Packets in six languages that you can download from this DMAHS page. Toxins are everywhere... Lead content in imported children’s toys and other common household products has emerged as a major source of risk of exposure to this toxic metal. Check the Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys, available to the public at www.healthytoys.org, to see how the commonly purchased children's products rank in terms of containing lead, cadmium, arsenic and other harmful chemicals.
While lead remains the greatest environmental threat to the development of children’s neurological systems, children are exposed to a myriad of other chemicals and toxins that may result in poor developmental outcomes. Ironically, the purpose of many of these toxic-laden products is to make our lives easier and more comfortable. Our homes, both inside and out, are built and furnished with materials that are treated with or have substances added to them to make them more durable and attractive.
Necessities, including our food and clothing, are subjected to chemical exposures, both natural and synthetic, that may have harmful health effects. Common appliances like washing machines and dishwashers, as well as service businesses such as dry cleaners, all use environmentally toxic substances.
These toxins accumulate in fat, blood, organs, hair and nails. They pass easily through the body in amniotic fluid, breast milk, urine, feces, sweat and semen. These exposures greatly threaten our health and that of future generations.
Additional publications dealing with Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
New Jersey Interagency Taskforce on the Prevention of Lead Poisoning Toxins found in everyday items... The list of such substances is extension. Examples of chemicals, metals and toxins that are common in our daily lives include: cadmium; mercury; cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine); phtalates (a chemical used in nail polish, soaps and shampoos, as well as in soft plastic products like PVC pipes, flooring and iPods); pesticides; and wood preservatives.
Chemicals, metals & toxins:
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Uses:
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Cadmium - by-product in the production of zinc and lead
  
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Ni-Cd batteries for cordless power tools, cellular telephones, camcorders, portable computers, portable household appliances and toys.
Bright yellow to deep red pigments in plastics, ceramics, glasses, enamels and artists colours.
Stabilizers to ensure long life of PVCs
Corrosion resistant coatings on steel, aluminium & non-ferrous metal fasteners and moving parts; electronic parts
As alloys in electrical & heat conductivity alloys, electrical contact alloys; in solar cells,
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Mercury
 
 
 
   
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Fish & seafood
Medical uses: thermometers, BP monitors, feeding tubes, dental amalgam (within silver fillings), lab chemicals, medical batteries for blood analyzers, defibrillators, hearing aids, meters, monitors, pacemakers, pumps, scales, telemetry transmitters, blood gas analyzers, ultrasound & ventilators
Batteries, fluorescent & high-intensity lamps; non-electronic thermostats; pressure gauges; some electrical switches in air flow/fans, building security systems, fire alarm box switches, lap-top computer screen shut-off, silent light switches, washing machine power shut off
Float controls in septic tanks & sump pumps
Non-digital thermostats; thermostat probes in gas appliances
Pressure gauges: barometers, manometers & vacuum gauges
Personal computers that use a printed wire board
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Cotinine – a nicotine metabolite that accumulates in the blood and urine following tobacco smoke inhalation
 
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ETS - Environmental Tobacco Smoke or “secondhand smoke” – Children with a greater exposure to tobacco smoke were significantly more likely to have more severe asthma, an increased number of respiratory illnesses, and lower lung function.
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Phthalates – so-called plasticizers, give synthetics their elastic character. Used mainly in soft PVC (polyvinylchloride). Not permanently fixed within soft PVC, they evaporate or dissolve when exposed to liquids and fats. Consequently, they’re found throughout the environment.
 
 vs.
 
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Baby products such as shampoo, lotion or powder Nail polish, soaps, shampoos, soft plastic products like PVC pipes, flooring, iPods, fake leather, wallpapers, shower curtains.
Phthalate-leaching toys and baby products pose a particular threat to infants and young children. Phthalates can be ingested, inhaled and absorbed through the skin. Phthalates can also be found in plastics made with bisphenol A (BPA).
Phthalates interfere with the production of testosterone and have been associated with reproductive abnormalities.
In babies, could hurt their reproductive ability later on in life. It seems absorption of phthalates through the skin seems to be an important way many babies get their phthalates
Banned from children’s toys & baby articles in Europe.
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Pesticides
Pesticides are used to protect food from pests, such as insects, rodents, weeds, mold, and bacteria.
Pesticides used on food include:
- insecticides to control insects
- rodenticides to control rodents
- herbicides to control weeds
- fungicides to control mold and fungus
- antimicrobials to control bacteria
 
 Adverse effects of pesticide exposure range from mild symptoms of dizziness and nausea to serious, long-term neurological, developmental and reproductive disorders.
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Kids need Protection
Children are at a greater risk for some pesticides for a number of reasons.
Children's internal organs are still developing and maturing and their enzymatic, metabolic, and immune systems may provide less natural protection than those of an adult. There are "critical periods" in human development when exposure to a toxin can permanently alter the way an individual's biological system operates.
Children may be exposed more to certain pesticides because often they eat different foods than adults.
For instance, children typically consume larger quantities of milk, applesauce, and orange juice per pound of body weight than do adults.
 Children's behaviors, such as playing on the floor or on the lawn where pesticides are commonly applied, or putting objects in their mouths, increase their chances of exposure to pesticides.
Americans use more than a billion pounds of pesticides each year to combat pests on farm crops, in homes, places of business, schools, parks, hospitals, and other public places.
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Wood preservatives
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Furniture, flooring, paneling, windowsills, doorsills
Outdoor decks, fences
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Results of Exposure to Toxins... Exposure to toxins results in poor developmental outcomes or illnesses, including asthma, in an equal-opportunity fashion. However, different outcomes can be attributed to age, e.g., children’s developing systems are far more sensitive to these toxins than adults, and socioeconomic standing.
Where people live and work effects their exposure to toxins. Toxic exposure tends to be higher in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods which are near old industrial sites or full of older homes. So children in lower socioeconomic households are often at far greater risk of being exposed to these harmful substances.
More information about environmental hazards are available at the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: www.aamr.org/ and the Alliance for Healthy Homes: http://www.afhh.org/.
 Provocative and groundbreaking, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals how the living of daily life creates a toxic soup inside each of us.
Studies have shown that significant levels of toxic substances can leach out of commonplace items in our homes and workplaces. How do these toxins make their way inside us and what impact do they have on our health? And more importantly, what can we do about them?
Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, two of Canada's leading environmental activists, tackle these questions head on by experimenting upon themselves. Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment - and the results in most cases are downright frightening - they tell the inside story of seven common substances.
More...
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