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A recent California proposition led to awareness that lead is a stabilizer in the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) jacketing that covers conductors in Christmas lights. The objective of this study is to examine the level of accessible lead in Christmas lights. Following U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Lead Inspectors' procedures, researchers at Cornel University and in Nebraska conducted wipe samples and total lead content samples of newly purchased and older Christmas light sets. Samples were analyzed for lead content. Lead was present in varying amounts on all samples. The amount of lead from the Nebraska samples, normalized to length of strings, was independent of analyzing laboratory, analysis method, age of string, and repeat sampling, both immediately and after extended storage. A later analysis of these same strings by the Cornell team showed diminished quantities. Amounts of surface lead normalized to crude estimates of the area of light string indicated surface concentrations in excess of U.S. EPA clearance level for lead on window sills. Whether exposure to lead in Christmas lights affects blood lead levels in humans is unknown. No standards exist for lead content in this product, and no protocols exist for conducting tests on it. Therefore, consumers may wish to exercise caution to reduce possible exposure., Introduction Humans have had a long relationship with lead. Before 1550 BCE, Egyptians used lead-based compounds for external remedies, which, according to Nriagu (1983), suggests an appreciation for lead's toxic [...]

BACKGROUND: A previously conducted study of prenatal lead exposure and schizophrenia using [delta]-aminolevulinic acid, a biologic marker of Pb exposure, in archived maternal serum samples collected from subjects enrolled in [...]

BACKGROUND: Tactile defensiveness in children is associated with difficult social relations, emotional dysregulation, and inattention. However, there are no studies of lead exposure and tactile defensiveness in children or animals [...]

BACKGROUND: Low-level developmental lead exposure is linked to cognitive and neurological disorders in children. However, the long-term effects of gestational lead exposure (GLE) have received little attention. OBJECTIVES: Our goals [...]

BACKGROUND: Few studies provide data directly relevant to the question of whether blood lead concentrations < 10 [micro]g/dL adversely affect children's cognitive function. OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between blood [...]

Rothenberg states that the level of concern for blood lead in children should be lowered from 10 [micro]g/dL, but he provides little cogent rationale for doing so. As basic science [...]

We thank Healey et al. for their thoughtful comments on our papers in the mini-monograph on adult lead exposure (Hu et al. 2007; Schwartz and Hu 2007). We agree with [...]

doi: 10.1289lehp. 10703 Miranda et al. (2007) in the August issue and Jusko et al. (2008) in the present issue of Environmental Health Perspectives provide additional evidence of adverse health [...]

The correspondence section is a public forum and, as such, is not peer-reviewed, EHP is not responsible for the accuracy, currency, or reliability of personal opinion expressed herein; it is [...]

An estimated 310,000 U.S. children between ages 1 and 5 have elevated blood lead levels despite efforts to reduce lead in the environment. Research in the past decade has begun [...]

Children with low-level prenatal lead exposure may suffer reduced cognitive function, impaired motor ability, and visual and auditory processing problems. Other effects, such as accelerated age-related functional decline or delayed [...]

Uncertainties in the relationship between bone Pb and cumulative blood lead index (CBLI), including evidence of nonlinearity and differences between the sexes, should be appropriately recognized when setting workplace blood [...]