arsenic « Know what is in your environment

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: antimony, arsenic, bounce houses, CEH, children's products, CPSC, CPSIA, Essco - Safety Check, lead, pvc, Toxic toys, X-Ray Fluorescence, XRF — 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!

Comments (0)

June 8, 2010

Heavy Metals found in Protein Drinks

Filed under: Health, News, Regulation — Tags: arsenic, cadmium, consumer reports, Essco - Safety Check, heavy metals, lead, protein shakes, sciencecorps, toxic, toxins — Seth Goldberg @ 11:41 am

An investigation by Consumer Reports has found lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury in fifteen different protein drinks. Some of these drinks can potentially pose health problems over time (consumption of heavy metals and excessive protein). These drinks were all sold as “ready-to-drink” liquids or powders and had varying levels of heavy metals (from low to moderate). Dietary supplements have voluntary standards for health products, which are set by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and protein drinks and other dietary supplements are not required to be tested before they are sold.

Three out of the fifteen drinks tested were found to contain levels of heavy metals above the USP limits for lead, cadmium or arsenic. These drinks are commonly used by athletes, baby boomers, pregnant women and teenagers. The proposed limits set by the USP for lead are 10 micrograms per day; the proposed limit for cadmium is 5 micrograms per day; the proposed limit for arsenic is 15 micrograms per day.

One drink was found to contain 16.9 micrograms of arsenic and 5.1 micrograms of cadmium. Another drink was found to contain all three metals with 13.5 micrograms of lead, 5.6 micrograms of cadmium and 12.2 micrograms of arsenic. And a third drink was found to contain 12.2 micrograms of lead and 11.2 micrograms of arsenic. All findings are based on three servings per day and all samples were either purchased in the New York metro area or online.

It appears that the federal government is not protecting the consumer and better regulation or oversight of “consumer products” such as protein shakes, toothbrushes, or baby spoons should be common sense and is needed. But lack of regulations has cause states to write their own, more strict regulations. According to this study by Consumer Reports, eight of the fifteen drinks would be required by Proposition 65 (California Law) to have manufacturers notify consumers because of lead content.

This investigation was prompted by Dr. Kathy Burns, a Boston-area Toxicologist and founder of Sciencecorps and Judy Braiman of Empire State Consumer Project.

To view the report from Consumer Reports, please visit. To view the press release from Consumer Reports, please visit.

This is just another “consumer product” that is not a consumer product and Essco Safety Check is working to help people and businesses know what is in their environment and mitigate potential harm.

Comments (0)

November 5, 2009

What are some of our unusual findings when we test consumer products?

Filed under: About the business, News — Tags: arsenic, cadmium, consumer products, know what is in your environment, lead, mercury, XRF — Seth Goldberg @ 10:10 am

What do you think you may find in your home? What potentially harmful elements exist in your favorite coffee cup, earrings, or child’s toy? I’m not writing to scare anyone, that is not my objective as a person or as a business owner. If anything, as a person and a business owner I simply what to provide information about your environment.

“Know what is in your environment!”

Over the past two-years of providing XRF testing services to moms and dads, businesses and industries, I have almost become numb to our findings. At first I was startled with the results, but as time progressed, the simple randomness of what I was finding has me realize this; we all have a variety of heavy metals in our homes, at daycare centers and schools, doctor’s offices and community centers, and are all most likely exposed to some degree or fashion.

Randomness of what we find, still amazes me, but no longer shocks me. How in a world with such amazing technologies and desire to help others, prevent harm, keep children safe, do we still permit harmful metals in our consumer products?

I’m definitely not saying that these harmful metals I find are causing any specific harm, but they are present in many different consumer products found in the typical home.

As for what I’ve seen…

Lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury…and more.

Where have I seen these elements?

In just about every consumer product possible! I’ve seen harmful metals in toys, ceramics, jewelry, plastics, housing/structure, soil and other substrates.

I have seen Lead in all types of ceramics, paints, children’s products, toys, jewelry, cutting boards, mattresses, infant’s products and many other consumables, soil, plastics and other substrates. The highest levels (from our data) appear to be in the things we cook with, eat off of and wear.

I have see Cadmium in all types of ceramics, paints, children’s products, toys, jewelry, plastics and other substrates. The highest levels (from our data) appear to be in the things we cook with, eat off of and wear.

I have seen Arsenic in some ceramics, children’s products, toys, plastics and other substrates.

I have seen mercury in some ceramics, children’s products, toys, plastics and other substrates.

I’m not saying that just because your child’s favorite toy or your favorite coffee cup has something potentially harmful in it that you or your child are going to be harmed. I’m just stating what I’ve seen, and if you can reduce your exposure, and especially your child’s exposure to these potentially harmful metals and thus certain items/consumer products/housing (paint), this simple act of reduction in exposure can help to mitigate some potential harm.

Here is an example. About a year ago, I was in a home providing our services. The home owner asked me to test their dishes, the ones that they used every day. They were beautiful, colorful, and in very good condition (there appeared to be no chips, cracks or blemishes in the glaze). However, they also appeared to contain about 10 percent lead.

The home owner was deeply concerned about this finding, wondered what to do, and also said that they could not get rid of the dishes, they were a family heirloom.

My response, first let’s note that the condition of the glaze appears to be fine (the most critical factor according to a toxic elemental specialist I spoke with at the FDA). Second, do you have other dishes you could use, I asked? They said yes. Can you make these dishes a display piece for your home I asked? They said yes. How about this, if you want to use these dishes, can you limit the use to birthday’s and special occasions (Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner)? They said yes.

Result of this knowledge, their potential exposure to lead from this set of dishware was reduced from 365 times per year to less than 10 times per year, a reduction of close to 40 times.

Besides the question of why are harmful metals in consumer products, the ones we eat off of, cook with, wear, our children play with, is for another blog.

Knowledge can lead to prevention! Prevention to mitigation! Mitigation can improve lives!

Comments (2)