Know what is in your environment

February 4, 2011

Another delay in CPSIA lead-law enforcement

Filed under: News, Regulation — Tags: , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 9:21 am

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has vote, for a sixth time, to extend the stay of enforcement on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).  The stay will be until December 31st, 2011 and is pertaining to total lead content in children’s products (except for metal components of children’s metal jewelry) and on the certification and independent third-party testing requirements for lead and other heavy metals permitted in children’s products.

This stay does not apply to the federal regulation and limits on lead, however, General Certificates of Conformity (GCC) are not required on children’s products other than painted surfaces and children’s jewelry.  This means that businesses are still required to ensure that their children’s products do not contain any levels of lead above the regulated limit of 300 Parts Per Million (PPM) for all children’s products and 90 PPM for painted surfaces.

Children’s metal jewelry and painted surfaces need to be tested by third-party independent laboratories that utilize specific “destructive” testing methodologies such as ASTM-F963.  Businesses selling children’s products need to ensure that their products to not contain lead and other metals passed certain limit standards set with the CPSIA, but they do not need to have their children’s products certified and tested by third-party laboratories until December 31st, 2011, except for painted products and children’s jewelry.

Businesses big and small now have an additional ten months to begin certification testing which can be very expensive.  Certification testing was set to begin February 11th 2011 and each test can cost potentially hundreds of dollars.

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing is one such way for businesses to test children’s products to determine if those products contain lead or other potentially regulated heavy metals and limit testing expenses.  XRF analyzers are a non-destructive, often hand-held device that uses X-rays and spectral analysis for positive identification of elements.  Testing costs are typically between $3 and $10 per test.

Essco Safety Check is helping manufactures, importers, retailers, charities and other businesses with helping to identify if lead or other regulated metals are present in consumer products and other items.

Know what is in your environment!

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Essco Safety Check

January 8, 2011

Lead, cadmium and other heavy metals found in children’s products donated and given away.

Filed under: About the business, Events, News, Regulation — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 9:42 am

At this time of year, charities give away new toys, clothing, accessories, jewelry and more to citizens can’t afford to buy them.  For the second consecutive year, Essco Safety Check provided free X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing to help identify certain products that may contain potentially harmful elements in those donated products.  Any item that was found with potentially harmful elements was not given away.  It was taken to be re-analyzed.

Items found to contain heavy metals

Found in some of the consumer products that were tested was lead, cadmium, antimony and other heavy metals.  The biggest offenders were purses, jewelry and ceramics, of which several of the items could be considered children’s products.  Children’s products are subject to regulations regarding the amount of lead that is permitted in the item.  The legal limit in total content that is permitted in a children’s products is 300 parts per million (PPM), unless it is a painted item, and, that amount of lead permitted is only 90 PPM. 

Essco Safety Check does not know who donated the items, when they were donated, if the items were purchased brand new and then brought immediately to the charity or if these items were purchased ten years ago and now just being donated.  Essco Safety Check has attempted to contact each manufacturer or importer of the items with information that was found about each product.  Of the findings, the readings are from X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzers which determine if the heavy metal is present and how much is present in total content.
 
Several name brand items were found to contain lead in including;

  • A Hello Kitty purse was found with lead at almost 4500 PPM in the vinyl part of the purse; which is 15 times over the legal limit for lead in a children’s product.
  • A Disney “My first pooh bank” (a ceramic) was found with almost 7400 PPM of lead; which is over 24 times the legal limit for lead in a children’s product, this item also was found to contain cadmium.   (According to a company representative this item was last imported in 2004, but was still in its originial packaging when tested)
  • A duffel bag with “Microsoft” printed on the bag with over 3500 PPM of lead; which is almost 12 times over the legal limit for a children’s product (I don’t believe this product is a child’s product) but this product also appears to have cadmium.

    • Several other purses were found to contain 1000s of PPM of lead, as well as a ceramic mug which appears to have lead in the glaze or ceramic at about 8400 PPM of lead which is 28 times over the legal limit for lead in a children’s product, this ceramic looked designed for a child.

    Another example, one brand of jewelry tested appears to contain high quantities of lead in the metal.  In several pins, which according to the company’s compliance officer is not considered a child’s product, was last manufactured in 2005.  Since these products were manufactured before the Children’s Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was enacted, the law establishing limits of lead in children’s products, this product and other products are not subject to the regulations.  This creates a potential problem because these items are grandfather in.  This jewelry was found to contain lead in the metal ranging from 21.96% to 47.39% and antimony from 8084 PPM to 1.43%.  These are unacceptable amounts.  Even though the compliance officer said the pins were not designed or marketed to children, some people may think otherwise because of the packaging and design. In another piece of jewelry from the same distributor (again packaging appears to target children) was found with 4.69% of lead.

    The pin found with 47.39% lead contains 1580 times the legal limit.

    These results pose several questions:

    1.  What are charities or thrift stores suppose to do to ensure the safety of the products that they donate or sell?  How do we let the public know that these products are not regulated the same as new products?
    2.  How is the CPSC going to protect children from potentially harmful items if regulations are only applied to new purchases, yet some newly donated items, are in-fact several years old and thus grandfathered in the regulations?
    3.  Why do we have different regulations for different products?  Children’s products, medical devices, ceramics, all have different regulations regarding heavy metals, unless they are designed and marketed to children. 

    In discussions with the product manufacturers and importers Essco Safety Check found out that several of the products tested were in-fact several years old and no longer being manufactured.  These products appeared to look new and be in their original packaging.  All companies that Essco Safety Check spoke to were looking into these issues.

    Just because there is something potentially harmful in your environment does not mean that it will harm you, however, if you know what is in your environment you can mitigate harm.

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    Essco Safety Check

    November 2, 2010

    Home improvement products found with lead, cadmium and phthalates

    Filed under: About the business, News, Regulation, Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 11:24 am

    Lead, cadmium and other heavy metals and chemicals have been found in home improvement products such as flooring, tile and wallpaper.  Healthystuff.org, a non-profit organization researching toxic chemicals in everyday products tested 1016 flooring products and 2312 types of wallpaper and lead, cadmium and phthalates were found.

    In similar testing, Essco Safety Check has also found heavy metals in tile and wallpaper.  On July 13, 2010 Essco Safety Check posted a blog entitled “Warning to homeowners, renovators, and contractors: beware of lead and other heavy metals in tile.”  The State of Washington Department of Commerce Lead Lines Volume 3, Issue 1 October 2010 published (on page 3) Essco Safety Checks findings on tile and our recommendations to contractors and homeowners.

    There are currently no federal standards for lead, cadmium or phthalates in home improvement products, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  Yet there are regulations for lead in children’s products, currently with a total content limit of 300ppm and 90ppm for painted surfaces. 

    As long as the tile is not disturbed, or children are directly “licking” the surface of the tile, there should be no direct harm.  However, if the tile is disturbed or children have direct hand-to-mouth or direct mouth contact, there is a potential for harm.

    There are new federal regulations regarding lead found in properties older than 1978.  The renovation, repair and painting rule (RRP) went into effect to address lead dust hazards created during renovation of properties older than 1978, this rule only applies to painted surfaces.  Tile, flooring and wallpaper are not considered painted surfaces, but each can potentially possess harmful heavy metals of chemicals.

    Healthystuff.org found that more than half of the wallpaper tested contained one or more hazardous chemicals and that 1 in 8 contained cadmium above 100ppm.  Of the vinyl flooring testing, 15% contained one or more hazardous chemicals compared to 8% for non-vinyl flooring.  Healthstuff.org found that linoleum, cork, bamboo and hardwood floorings all tested negative for lead and cadmium.

    Lead found in the left tile, cadmium found in the right tile

    In similar testing, Essco Safety Check has found tile to contain lead with a total content limit of over 2.4%, testing was done using an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzer. 

    Additionally, we have found lead and cadmium to be present in wallpaper.  This testing was not done on new wallpaper, but wallpaper found currently in people’s homes.  In one case, we found that the wallpaper present in several parts of a home contained lead, cadmium antimony and was found to be PVC which may indicate the presence of phthalates.

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm!

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    Essco Safety Check

    October 18, 2010

    Autism is linked to Jaundice

    Filed under: About the business, Health, News, viewpoint — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 1:22 pm

    A study performed by Danish researchers suggests that newborn babies who develop jaundice are at greater risk for developing autism. Jaundice is a common liver problem that turns skin and eye color yellow. The study found that full-term babies who developed jaundice were 67% more likely to develop autism and that babies born from October to March, the darkest months of the year, were most at risk.

    I’m not going to comment on the “darkest months” in this blog, but I want to talk about my knowledge of autism and how I think it may be related to jaundice and specifically the function of the liver.

    The liver is essentially the body’s filter. According to webmd.com

    The liver’s main job is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest of the body. The liver also detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs.

    My knowledge or experience with autism is based on my business, Essco Safety Check, and our ability to enter an environment and help (in this case) parents with autistic children, know what is in their environment. Autistic parents appear to be very concerned about what potential toxicants may be present. Their children have health and behavioral issues; in each and every home with autistic children (that I have been to), the parents also inform me that their children have heavy metals in their blood. Not just one metal, but several, in one home I was shown the child’s blood metals lab report and 12 or 13 different metal were present, including; lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, antimony, tin, chromium, copper, and others.

    With a device called an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, we provide non-destructive testing of virtually anything in an environment (toys, ceramics, jewelry, housing, soil, etc) for heavy metals; lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, antimony, basically from 15-94 on the periodic chart.

    Let me try putting the dots together.

    I have been to dozens and dozens of homes with autistic children providing testing services and I hear the same story. First let me state that I’m not a doctor, but I feel like a researcher more and more.

    1. All the parents of autistic children who have hired us to come to their home tell us that their children are autistic or have a similar condition.
    2. All the parents of these autistic children tell us that their children have a variety of heavy metals in their blood.
    3. When we provide testing of all the items in the child’s environment that they have a direct, routine relationship with (i.e. toys, ceramics, painted surfaces, vinyl objects, etc) we find the same heavy metals that the parents tell us are in their children’s blood.

    My thoughts in developing my theory for three years are based on the fact that in 100% of the homes that I’ve been to with autistic children, we find these same three points, reoccurring in each and every home.

    I believe that these children, autistic people in general, have a unique genetic pre-disposition to not be able to properly process metals and chemicals that we are all subjected to on a routine basis. And the constant exposure to these toxicants builds up in the body over time. If lead is present in a child’s blood, the lead can be causing potential health, intellectual and behavioral problems. If the lead is causing these problems, how can you properly treat autism? Wouldn’t you need to remove the harmful heavy metals from the child to properly treat autism?

    Isn’t it possible that the lead in the child is actually masking the condition and thus any treatment without the removal of lead from the child’s blood will not work to its full potential?

    Jaundice is a liver problem and the liver is the body’s filter, maybe the filter of an autistic person is simply not working properly.

    I do not want to suggest that I think that heavy metals are the cause of autism, but as I have said, in each and every home that I’ve been to, to provide XRF testing for heavy metals, we hear the same story.

    If constant exposure of heavy metals and chemicals are impacting everyone, the gradual buildup of these heavy metals and chemicals can occur within anyone, but more easily with people who’s “filter” is not working properly. This buildup of heavy metals can, in my opinion, potentially mask conditions of autism, making treatment harder, longer and less effective unless you remove the toxicants from the environment.

    If you can remove potential toxicants from the environment of an autistic person, wouldn’t treatment be more effective?

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm!

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    Essco Safety Check

    October 14, 2010

    Lead isn’t the only thing being found in bounce house materials; arsenic and antimony are also found.

    Filed under: News, Regulation, Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 8:39 am

    Children playing in a bounce house

    In August of 2010, a lawsuit was filed by the office of Attorney General Jerry Brown of California claiming that unsafe levels of lead were being found in bounce houses.  The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) in Oakland, California initiated the suit.  The CEH found levels of lead in the vinyl up to 2.9% or 29,000 parts per million (PPM).  The federal limit for lead in a children’s product is 90 PPM for painted surfaces or 300 PPM for non-painted surfaces.

    Recently my company, Essco Safety Check, preformed X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing of vinyl samples of materials that bounce houses are made of, and like CEH, we found lead, however we also found fairly high levels of arsenic and antimony.  The lead levels were found with a high of approximately 11,000 PPM but overall percentages of lead found were lower than that of antimony and arsenic. Lead was found to contain more than 500 PPM in 16.2% of the samples, however, 500 PPM of arsenic was found in 24.3% of the samples and 500 PPM of antimony was found in 86.5% of the samples.

    Here are some general numbers of the samples we tested.

    Antimony found with more than 1000 PPM in 86.5% of the samples tested
    Arsenic found with more than 1000 PPM in 21.6% of the samples tested
    Lead found with more than 1000 PPM in 8.1% of the samples tested
    Antimony found with more than 5000 PPM in 35.1% of the samples tested
    Arsenic found with more than 5000 PPM in 13.5% of the samples tested
    Lead found with more than 5000 PPM in 2.7% of the samples tested

    I’m not exactly sure why arsenic would be found in the vinyl materials of bounce houses, potentially as a stabilizer in Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production, however, antimony is potentially used as a fire retardant. 

    The CPSC is currently attempting to decide what exactly is the definition of a children’s product, I’m not sure that a bounce home a children’s product.  I’m not even sure that the CPSC knows this answer.  In discussions with several people in the “know” about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), they are not sure if this is a child’s product.

    However, in the vinyl materials that were tested, lead, arsenic and antimony were found.  Now I want to stress that all testing done was with an XRF analyzer which tests for total content.  Lead is the only element that has a total content standard within the CPSIA, antimony and arsenic (among other elements) have voluntary soluble standards according to ASTM F963.  The results shown are NOT a soluble reading, but total content. 

    Now just because the samples we tested were found to contain lead, antimony and arsenic does not mean that all bounce houses have these elements.  However, the material PVC is known for its ability to leach heavy metals.  All the samples tested were made of PVC. 

    In producing PVC a lot of Chlorine (Cl) is used (some estimates say that 40% of the worlds chlorine is used to make PVC) and of course there is Hydrogen (H).  If H & Cl combine, they form Hydrochloric Acid (HCl), to prevent this the PVC manufactures add stabilizers, sometimes they use heavy metals such as lead, or maybe in this case arsenic. 

    In a study that Essco Safety Check did with a few local laboratories in 2008 & 2009 lead was detected in PVC material and subjected to a variety of conditions of heat.  Lead was found to accumulate on the surface and leach from the PVC material, the more heat, the more leaching.  I wonder if this could be happening in these materials.

    We know that exposure to lead can cause a variety of mental and physical conditions including; learning disabilities, behavioral problems, seizures, coma and even death.

    Bounce house

    Picture the beautiful summer evening at your towns 4th of July celebration, its 90 degrees and you’re having fun.  Your children want to go play in the bounce houses, children love these activities.  You say go play, have fun, don’t hurt yourself.  Little did you know that the act of playing in these houses could be potentially harmful to your child, all because of what they are made of.

    Regardless if the CPSC determines that bounce houses are in-fact children’s products and subject to CPSIA regulations, why would you need to put these potentially harmful elements like lead, arsenic or antimony in this product or other children’s and consumer products?

    Knowing what is in your environment is important, especially to children and pregnant women. 

    Know what’s in your environment and mitigate harm!

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    Essco Safety Check

    September 30, 2010

    EPA begins enforcement for certification of renovation firms doing RRP work on October 1, 2010

    Filed under: About the business, News, Regulation — Tags: , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 8:47 am

    On April 22, 2010 the EPAs Renovation Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule went into effect to address lead dust hazards created during renovation of properties older than 1978, this rule only applies to painted surfaces.   As of April 22nd, 2010 all contractors were required to be certified and follow specific work practice standards “Lead-Safe Work Practices.”  However, a June 18th, 2010 memorandum from the EPA provided firms and individuals additional time to enroll in and take the required training courses to become certified lead-based paint renovators and renovation firms. 

    The memorandum of June 18th, 2010 did not change requirements that contractors take appropriate steps to keep families and children safe from the dangers of lead poisoning and associated recordkeeping requirements.  The memorandum only extended the time requirements to register and take the required training courses associated with the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule.

    The EPA has posted training materials at:  www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/training.htm.

    Renovation Firms have until October 1st, 2010 to be certified with the EPA.  All firms that are not certified by October 1st, 2010, will be subject to penalties for failing to comply with the renovation firm requirements of the RRP rule.

    Individual Renovators have until September 30th, 2010 to enroll in a certified renovator class to train contractors in practices necessary for compliance with the final RRP rules.  Individual Renovators have until December 31st, 2010 to complete the required training courses.

    Some basic information about the RRP Rule:
    Homeowners, apartment owners, government-assisted or public housing, schools and childcare facilities that are older than 1978 that have a contractor disturb a painted surface do to renovation, repair or painting must have the contractor:
     A.  Assume the property contains lead-based paint and follow lead-safe work practices, or
     B.  You or your contractor may also test for lead using a lead test kit.  These kits must be EPA-approved, or
     C.  Hire a certified professional to check for lead-based paint.  These professionals are certified risk assessors or inspectors and can determine if your home has lead or lead hazards.

    Essco Safety Check is professional lead-based firm (in Washington State) ready to help contractors, homeowners, childcare facility operators, schools and business with all their RRP lead inspection needs. 

    Essco Safety Check has certified lead professionals who will come to your location and provide non-destructive X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing to inspect for lead-based paint.  We will help you save time & money with hassle-free lead inspection services and assist you with all your data storage and EPA testing compliance issues.

    Contact Essco Safety Check at http://www.essco-safetycheck.com/services/re.htm for more information or call Seth at 425-749-4136

    Additional information on lead-safe work practices can be found at www.epa.gov/lead or obtained from the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323)

    Additional information on EPA RRP compliance can be found here: http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/sbcomplianceguide.pdf

    Lead-Safe Certified Guide “Renovate Right” can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovaterightbrochure.pdf

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm!

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    Essco Safety Check

    September 19, 2010

    XRF testing helps find mercury in facial creams

    Filed under: About the business, Health, News, Regulation — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 7:55 am

    Have you ever wondered if your favorite coffee cup, you know the one you drink out of every day, has any lead in it?    Are you curious if the toys your children are playing with have any potentially harmful heavy metals like lead or cadmium?  What about the facial or topical creams you apply to your body? Do you ever stop and think what is in your environment and how your environment may affect your health or life?

    Three years ago I started a business, Environmental Services & Solutions Corporation (otherwise known as Essco Safety Check) to provide X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing services to moms and dads, to help them know what was in their environment.  XRF analyzers use X-Rays to non-destructively detect heavy metals in virtually anything.  Our handheld XRF analyzers, from Olympus Innov-X, are essentially a hand-held mass spectrometer capable of detecting elements from 15 to 94 on the periodic chart. 

    Since 2007, when Essco Safety Check started, we have added testing services that help businesses, industries and government, as well as, developing a sophisticated software platform to collect and analyze environmental data in a cloud-based system.  We have been specifically involved with consumer product testing helping businesses affected by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and contractors, painters, remodelers, home inspector and homeowners affected by the Renovation, Repair & Painting (RRP) Rule, among many other types of XRF testing.

    Essco Safety Check has been involved with several national recalls for lead and cadmium and has had many discussions with the CPSC, FDA, EPA, state and local agencies about different environmental issues.  Our testing has found lead and cadmium in toys, ceramics, jewelry, painted surfaces, metal objects, cookware, medical products and more.  We have provided testimony at state hearings, have worked with advocacy groups, provided community testing events and have been on hundreds of job sites.  With all of this experience using XRF analyzers, you would have thought I would have learned never to be surprised what you may find.   Yet, you may be wrong…I may not always be surprised what I find, I may be disgusted.

    Recently, Essco Safety Check was contacted to help provide XRF testing of facial creams from Southeast Asia to look for mercury.  My initial concern with this project was that we would not find mercury because levels of mercury would be below our detection capabilities.  The XRF analyzers that we use have detection limitations in the parts per million (PPM) and I suspected that the levels of mercury in the facial creams would be in the parts per billion (PPB).  I was informed that the levels of mercury in some of the suspected facial creams with mercury were greater than one percent. 

    1 % = 10,000 (PPM)

    After several discussions with the parties involved, samples of six different facial creams (skin whitening creams) were sent to Essco Safety Check’s office.  Testing proceeded and you know what?

    I was disgusted. 

    In three of the samples that were tested, levels of mercury were detectible, greater than 600 PPM.  Two of the samples were found to contain more than 8,000 PPM and one sample was found to contain over 15,000 PPM or 1.5% mercury.  This is a product that is applied to the face and it has high levels of mercury.

    Mercury is banned in skin-bleaching or lightening products, such a product would have words listed on the packaging as “lightening” or “whitening”, if these words are not listed, it is considered a cosmetic.   Eye area cosmetics are permitted to have concentrations of mercury not exceeding 65 PPM if it is used as a preservative, and only if no other preservative is available for use.  All other cosmetics are only permitted trace amounts of mercury, less than 1 PPM.

    Essco Safety Check was initially contacted to help determine if certain facial creams had levels of mercury, because people who were using these creams appear to be suffering from mercury poisoning.  Some symptoms of mercury poisoning are; metallic taste, vomiting, difficulty breathing, bad cough, swollen or bleeding gums and if enough mercury is ingested in your blood stream, kidney and brain damage may occur.  Often with modest exposure, there is no oblivious effect.  However, in one extreme recent case in Cambodia a young lady died apparently from a hypersensitive response to mercury in a skin whitener, identified as Bao Dam from Vietnam [1].  The creams Essco Safety Check evaluated were apparently from Vietnam, Thailand and China but they may have been bootlegged and produced anywhere.  Mercury is readily absorbed through the skin in a topical application and mercury can accumulate in the body.

    In May of this year, the Chicago Tribune did an investigation of 50 skin-lightening creams by purchasing these facial creams in Chicago stores.  Five of the creams were found to contain amounts mercury greater than 6,000 PPM.   They are:

  • Crème Diana C.T.R. – manufactured in Lebanon – 6,900 PPM
  • Ling Ji Su containers – manufactured in China – 6,530 PPM (white cream); 6,090 PPM (yellow cream)
  • Lulanjina – manufactured in China – 14,700 PPM (yellow cream); 14,100 PPM (white cream)
  • Stillman’s Skin Bleach Cream – manufactured in Pakistan – 29,600 PPM
  • Top-Gel MCA Extra Pearl Cream – manufactured in Taiwan – 7,030 PPM

    • The FDA did respond to this investigation.

    This is just another example of why you would want to know what is in your environment.  XRF testing helps people and businesses know what is in their environment.   We have the potential to help governments with limited regulations learn about product safety and help create regulations that will protect citizens, workers and the environment, while saving time and money.  XRF testing can create jobs and improve people’s lives.

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm.

    [1] http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/34119/skin-cream-linked-to-bride-death

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    Essco Safety Check

    September 7, 2010

    Essco Safety Check makes interesting finds using XRF analyzers

    Filed under: About the business, News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 1:12 pm

    For almost three years, Essco Safety Check has been providing X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) services to help people and businesses know what is in their environment.  We started to help moms and dads know if their children’s toys had any harmful levels of lead or other potentially harmful heavy metals and have been involved in several national recalls for lead and cadmium in children’s products.

    We have expanded services to include certified home and property lead inspections, risk assessments, HUD inspections and Renovation, Repair & Painting (RRP) Inspections.

    We have provided services to toy wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers.  We have done testing for county health departments, state and federal agencies.  We have helped real estate professionals sell homes, and assisted remodelers, home inspectors and other housing professionals.  We work with families of autistic children and can help anyone or any business know what is in their environment.

    Recently, I was out performing an in-home inspection and found lead in wall paper.  This was a new experience for me and after further testing, I was able to identify that the back side of the wall paper was made of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).  The lead and other heavy metals found when testing the wall paper was most likely from the PVC and the back side of the wallpaper not the painted surface.

    Contractors, remodelers and homeowners should be aware that there is a potential for lead to exist in wallpaper.  Older homes that contain wallpaper with a PVC or film backing should be aware that lead and other heavy metals may be present.  Creating dusts from this substrate could be potentially harmful. 

    In addition, contractors should be aware that tile may contain harmful levels of certain heavy metals including lead.  If you are doing remodeling, renovation or painting that disturbs a painted surface or tile, use caution and be aware that the dust you create could be potentially harmful to you, your workers and the people or children in the home.

    Other interesting finds and subjects of upcoming or past blogs include lead and other heavy metals found in:

    Bounce Homes
    Protein Drinks
    Field Turf
    Bumbo Seats
    Facial Creams and other personal care items

    Know what is in your environment!

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    Essco Safety Check

    August 18, 2010

    Lead is found in bounce homes children play in.

    Filed under: Health, News, Regulation — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 10:08 am

    For several years, Essco Safety Check has been providing X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) testing services to moms and dads, businesses, industries and government.  We have first-hand knowledge to where lead and other potentially harmful heavy metals are found from our XRF testing.   Recently, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) did an investigation, environmental testing, of bounce homes that children play in. 

    Their investigation found lead; in one bounce home that was more than 70 times greater than the legal limit of lead in a child’s product.  They found a lead from a range of 5000 parts per million (PPM) to 29,000 PPM.  The legal limit for lead in children’s products is 90 PPM for painted surfaces and 300 PPM for all other parts of the product.

    With all the testing that Essco Safety Check has done, we have tested bounce homes in the past and our findings are very similar to that of CEHs.  The issue with bounce homes is the material that the home is made of.  It is typically made of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and PVC is a substrate that we have found to contain lead more than other typical substrates that children play with.  When PVC is manufactured, a stabilizer is added in production to prevent Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) from forming, unfortunately the manufacturers tend to use lead as a stabilizer.  This stabilizer does not bind well to the PVC molecule and can readily leach from the PVC material.

    In some laboratory testing that Essco Safety Check has performed with several accredited laboratories in the Seattle, WA area, we have found that heat can play a factor in to the ability for lead to leach from PVC.  The hotter the temperature that the PVC is exposed to the more likelihood that leaching can occur.  The best thing for children to do after playing in a bounce home is to wash their hands and face, and avoid direct hands to mouth contact while playing in a bounce home.  This is more critical for children under the age of 6, as they are more susceptible to the exposure of lead.

    Lead is a neurotoxin that can cause many problems including; learning disabilities, anemia, hypertension, infertility and death among other problems.  Children are more sensitive to lead exposure because of their size (mass) and greater absorption of lead.  It is best to avoid lead exposure as there is no level of lead that is considered safe.

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm.

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    Essco Safety Check

    July 28, 2010

    The Price of Pollution; how XRF testing can protect people and save billions of dollars

    Filed under: About the business, Health, News, Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Seth Goldberg @ 10:30 am

    Environmental toxicants are harmful to people, the environment and economics.  Several studies have been done to estimate the cost of these toxicants and the diseases that they cause.  Michigan is the latest to produce a report showing direct and indirect costs associated with environmental related diseases. Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health and the Michigan Ecology Center has produced a report that gives an estimate of environment-related childhood disease in Michigan.  You can review this report here.

    This report found that four childhood environmental disorders (lead poisoning, asthma, pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders) cost Michigan on average $5.85 billion per year.  That is just the cost for these disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders include; cognitive impairment, autism and cerebral palsy. 

    These costs include both direct and indirect costs; direct costs include things such as prescriptions and hospitalizations, indirect costs include such things as parental wages lost due to their children’s missed school days and loss of lifetime earnings.  The methodology used to develop these estimates was originally published by Landrigan et al. (2002).

    The overall annual cost estimate for Michigan is $5.8 billion, with a range of $3.65 to $6.68 billion.

  • Lead Poisoning: $4.85 billion (range $3.2 to 4.85 billion) annually
  • Childhood Asthma: $88.4 million (range $29.5 to $103.2 million) annually
  • Pediatric Cancer: $17.3 million (range $6.9 to $34.6 million) annually
  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders: $845 million (range $423 million to $1.69 billion) annually

    • These cost estimates represent approximately 1.5% of Michigan’s Gross domestic Product every year.

    If people and businesses can learn what is in their environment, they can mitigate harm.  If you can reduce the amount of exposure you have to a particular environmental toxicant, not only can you improve your quality of life, it could be potentially economically advantageous.  

    Safety V. Money

    I can only speak about lead poisoning and autism, as those areas I have been greatly involved in.  Essco Safety Check has been providing non-destructive environmental testing for potential harmful toxicants such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals by utilizing X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzers and software to collect and analyze the environment around us.  Autistic families contact us because they claim their children have a variety of heavy metals in their blood and we can quickly identify a variety of heavy metals non-destructively, quickly, efficiently and accurately.  We specialize in helping people and businesses know what is in their environment.

    A study that I wrote earlier this year, The potential economic impact of the CPSIA, was submitted US House of Representative, House Energy Commerce Sub-Committee for Consumer Protection by the Handmade Toy Alliance as “Allowing XRF testing for CPSIA compliance could save $3.7 billion and save small businesses”  This study looked at new federal regulation, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and how businesses are affected by the regulations and how XRF technology can help them reduce costs in testing, getting products to market faster and creating jobs.

    If we can now combine these two visions of protecting children and saving small businesses, we are not only doing the ethical thing, were are going to be creating jobs, improving lives, while protecting children, creating jobs and saving people, businesses and government billions of dollars.

    Essco Safety Check is proud to be a leader in XRF testing services and environmental software solutions as well as, equally proud to help protect children, homeowners, businesses and government.

    Know what is in your environment and mitigate harm.

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