Along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and juice boxes, some schoolchildren may be carrying something unexpected -- and potentially hazardous -- in their lunchboxes this fall.
A study by an Oakland-based environmental group found harmful levels of lead in some lunchboxes made of soft vinyl. The Center for Environmental Health filed lawsuits late last month against several lunchbox manufacturers and various retailers who sell the products.
The environmental group found that 27 lunchboxes -- one-quarter of the products tested -- had high levels of lead when tested with an at-home detection kit. The group then sent those 27 products to an independent laboratory for more rigorous testing; that study found that 17 of the lunchboxes contained lead in excess of federal safety standards.
One lunchbox, made by Targus Group International Inc. and featuring the children's character Angela Anaconda, was found to contain more than 90 times the legal limit for lead in paint in children's products. The Center for Environmental Health has advised parents to avoid vinyl lunchboxes or to purchase a home test kit to check for lead. Such kits sell for about $3 and can be found on the Internet and in hardware stores.
Michael V. Ward, vice president and general counsel for Targus, said last week that the Anaheim-based company had only recently become aware of the potential hazard and was checking with its supplier to determine if the product was tested for lead.
"I'm not certain it does or doesn't contain lead," Ward said of the lunchboxes.
Lara Cushing, research director for the Center for Environmental Health, said the study found the lead was not contained within the vinyl material itself but rather on the surface of the lunchboxes.
"It's not bound up in the plastic," she said. "It's sloughing off. It can come off on your hand. It can rub off on your food."
The Oakland environmental group in recent years has reported on studies that found unsafe levels of lead in some imported Mexican candies and in children's jewelry. The private, nonprofit group specializes in identifying hazardous sources of lead in the environment.
Lead is considered unsafe at any level. Even small amounts can build up in the body and cause lifelong problems, according to the California Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch.
Fetuses and children younger than 6 are at greatest risk for lead poisoning because their brains and nervous systems are still forming.
