The danger of lead poisoning in toys is not a risk limited to products made in China. The National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning Prevention in India has revealed that up to 80 per cent of the Indian toys contain paint with high levels of lead.
The findings, revealed to this newspaper, are likely to kick up a furore with several Western countries having slapped bans on Chinese toys over fears of lead poisoning.
Tests by NRCLPP showed that even wooden toys made in India contain paints with high levels of lead, exposure to which can have a crippling impact on a child’s brain, causing learning disabilities, malformed bones, even seizures and death. Lead also freely seeps through placenta of pregnant women exposed to the toxic substance and affects unborn foetuses.
Thuppil Venkatesh, a doctor with NRCLPPI, said the not-for-profit research firm in Delhi will send a team to Chennai in January to check lead levels in toys provided to children in schools in the city and test the students for lead poisoning.
“The paint which gives a shiny appearance to dolls contains high levels of lead,” said Dr Venkatesh, who is also principal advisor to the Quality Council of India.
He added small children often lick and chew glossy toys since lead compounds used in the paint taste sweet. “We conducted tests on toys from various sources and have data top show that most contain lead, except a few brands meant solely for export,” Dr Venkatesh added.
Doctors point out that the digestive system of a child up to the age of six absorbs up to 50 per cent of the lead ingested. “High retention occurs when the brain is developing the fastest,” he said. Though the international standards for lead levels in paints are 90 ppm (parts per million), the Bureau of Indian Standards has pegged it at 1,000 ppm.