Stuff made in a place we're not allowed to blame for anything:
The organization reported on tests conducted on dozens of products purchased at popular Canadian dollar stores. One in four of the products tested were positive for substances managed under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Many of the findings were within the allowable limits, but the report says those limits are not strong enough.
The outer ring on a set of stereo headphones was found to have 24 times the legal limit of lead, and five times the legal limit of cadmium.
The solder inside the same headphones had 170 times what is considered safe on outer portions of the headphones. The solder on a separate set of earbud style headphones had 3,000 times the amount of lead allowed on the accessible portions.
But the solder is not covered by the regulations, a gap Environmental Defence insists must be closed.
Cassie Barker, toxics manager for Environmental Defence, said internal lead can still be exposed if products break or wear down.
"The way that kids use products, and you know they break things and so that internal (lead) quickly becomes external lead," she said.
The toxic harm from lead poisoning has been documented for more than 50 years. It can cause significant cognitive and developmental delays in young children with high exposures, and can create risks of high blood pressure and kidney damage in adults. It has been barred from use in gasoline, food cans and paints.
No comments:
Post a Comment