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Skip to Article Content- health-e head2toe: How Environmental Exposure May Affect Your Child
- Gentle Care for Baby's Skin and Hair What's in baby skin and hair care products?
- The Facts About BPA What you need to know about possible risks from bisphenol-A.
- 5 Surprising Sources of Lead Exposure Where to look for lead dangers beyond old paint.
- Safer Cleaning Products How you can reduce chemical exposure and still have a clean house.
- When Your Child Has Allergies Tips on reducing allergy triggers in your home.
- Fumes, Smoke, and More How to cut down on things that may irritate your child's eyes.
- Avoiding Asthma Triggers Making your home healthier when your child has asthma.
- Safer Pest Control Keeping pests out of the house without using extreme measures.
- Organic Lawn Care Maintaining a safer lawn for your kids and your pets.
- Choosing Personal Care Products Helping your child make healthy choices about hair and skin care.
- Achoo! Scents and Fragrances If it smells good but makes you sneeze, think twice.
- Natural Cosmetics: Makeup Tips How to look good while using products that are gentle on the skin.
- Slideshow: What's Irritating Your Child's Skin? From soap to bug spray, a look at possible skin irritants and gentler choices.
- Slideshow: Indoor Air Pollution What is your family breathing in, and how can you make it better?
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5 Surprising Sources of Lead Exposure
Old toys are also a risk, especially if they have peeling paint.
Swallowing a toy with high lead levels can be very dangerous. Several kids have become gravely ill as a result.
What You Can Do: It's hard to be absolutely sure if a toy has lead in it or not. Start by checking www.recalls.gov to see if a specific toy has been recalled.
Be wary of cheaper toys -- like those from vending machines or street fairs -- and especially plastic jewelry. If you notice that your child is putting a toy in her mouth frequently and you're not absolutely sure it's lead-free, take it away. To lower the risks of poisoning, make sure that your child is playing with age-appropriate toys that he's not at risk of swallowing.
Don’t let your kids play with older toys if you don't know they're lead-free. That can mean declining hand-me-downs and toys purchased at garage sales or thrift stores. Remove any toy with chipped paint.
The safest choices for toys are unpainted wood, stuffed animals, and books.
Lead in Water Pipes
10%-20% of childhood lead poisoning is caused by contaminated drinking water. It might not surprise you that old plumbing -- especially from 1930 or earlier -- can contain lead. Some pipes were actually made of lead, and brass fixtures can also contain some lead.
Here's what is surprising: pipes in very new homes are potentially a greater risk for lead. Some plumbers still use lead solder to join copper pipes, which exposes the water directly to lead. The risk is highest in houses that are less than five years old; after that, mineral deposits build up in the pipes that insulate the water from the lead in the solder. According to the EPA, you should assume that any building less than five years old has lead-contaminated water.
Private wells can also be contaminated by lead in pump components or the well seal. Although pipes inside a home are usually the source of lead poisoning, sometimes lead comes from old pipes in the street that supply the water to your home.