Lead

Jennifer Taggart's testing gun seems an anomaly in this California Market Center room filled with pink tutus and flowery white baby gowns. She holds a laser gun, called the XRF Analyzer, to a tiny dress and waits. The scanner beeps: The garment doesn't contain any lead. Its designer sighs in relief. On Friday, clothing buyers from retail boutiques start pouring into the downtown Los Angeles garment emporium to decide which items to stock.

More than 50 federal lawmakers are demanding that Mattel Inc. stop selling toys that contain any lead, saying the toy maker is not going far enough to address safety concerns. The demand was in a letter released by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). El Segundo-based Mattel recalled millions of Chinese-made toys last year because of concerns that lead paint exceeded U.S. standards.

Dozens of vinyl and faux leather women's products from major retailers were found to contain high levels of lead, according to the Center for Environmental Health. Testing by the group found lead in handbags, purses and wallets from Bay Area outlets of chains including Target, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Sears, JCPenney and Ross. Brands with lead traces included Nine West, Xhilaration and Rosetti. Some items had lead levels up to 90 times higher than the federal limit, the group said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office is considering whether to file criminal charges against the Redondo Beach Police Department after hundreds of potentially hazardous lead bullet fragments from its firing range were found at a nearby elementary school and in the surrounding neighborhood. Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney, said Monday that prosecutors were "looking at specific criminal violations" and were continuing to review the material.

Portraying law enforcers as lawbreakers, the state toxic substances enforcement agency has found that the Redondo Beach Police Department violated state codes after at least 800 hazardous lead bullet fragments from its outdoor firing range were found in the surrounding neighborhood, including an elementary school across the street. The Department of Toxic Substances Control report, dated Oct.

A popular toy maker is refusing to pull a lead-tainted doll from store shelves across Illinois, challenging a state law governing lead content in toys, the state says. Ty Inc., best known for its Beanie Babies, says federal law takes precedence over the Illinois statute. The state is considering suing Ty, based in suburban Chicago, to force it to comply.

After facing recall after recall of millions of Chinese-made items, the nation's biggest toy sellers are imposing stricter measures on their suppliers -- including tougher standards for lead content -- to get ahead of expected new federal legislation. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us Inc., the nation's top two toy sellers, are setting a much tighter standard for the amount of lead allowed on surface paint for toys shipped to their chains starting March 1.

Contractors renovating U.S. homes built before 1978 must take special precautions to avoid exposing children to lead paint under a regulation announced Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency. Many physicians and scientists have criticized the EPA's long-awaited rule as inadequate to protect children who live in the estimated 38 million homes that contain old lead paint. Every year, about 11 million renovations occur in U.S.

Dangerous levels of toxic lead were emitted by a Southern California battery recycling facility for months, until regulators ordered the facility to cut production by almost half, officials said. An Exide Technologies facility in Vernon, one of just two such battery recycling facilities west of the Rockies, was emitting lead at levels nearly twice the allowable federal limits from December to April, according to South Coast Air Quality Management District staff.

Alarmed by a year of recalls targeting millions of tainted toys, the House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ban lead and other dangerous chemicals from items such as jewelry and rubber ducks that could end up in kids' mouths. The legislation also would toughen rules for testing children's products and take steps to give more muscle to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which was criticized last year for its handling of a flood of goods from China deemed hazardous to children.