CDPH recalls lead-tainted canvas lunch boxes

The California Department of Public Health on Thursday issued a voluntary recall of some 56,000 Chinese lunch boxes after recent testing showed hazardous levels of lead in three boxes, adding fuel to the ongoing controversies over China-made poor quality products.

The canvas lunch boxes, green in color, were distributed as CDPH nutrition educational items, and carried a logo reading "EAT FRUITS & VEGETABLES AND BE ACTIVE." These boxes have been distributed in California at health fairs and other events, and were imported from China by T-A Creations Inc. of Los Angeles.

State health department’s warning came after a swab test conducted by the Sacramento County Health Department in July indicated that the boxes contained lead. "We think we took appropriate steps based on the information available at the time," said Dr. Mark Horton, Director of the California Department of Public Health.

Concerned with the presence of higher-than-allowed levels of lead in Chinese-made CDPH lunch boxes, California officials are now advising people not to use them. State health officials are urging people to return the tainted lunch boxes to the place where they got them or take them to their local household hazardous waste collection facility for disposal.

“CDPH will no longer use lunch boxes until such time as we are assured that every lunch box is safe. In addition to lunch boxes, we are assessing all of our health promotion items to ensure that they are safe,” Dr. Horton said. “We are urging Californians to not use these lunch boxes and keep them away from infants and young children.“

Besides the lunch boxes which tested positive for lead, CDPH has urged Californians to dispose of 250,000 similar canvas sacks distributed at health fairs and other events, even though they have not shown elevated lead levels.

Approximately 300,000 of the lunch boxes, green and blue in color, have been given away at schools and health fairs, through programs such as the Network for a Healthy California Program and the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children. Most of these boxes were went to poorer or immigrant families.

Blue lunch bags distributed by the health department are still being tested. No cases of illness associated with using the affected product have been officially reported yet.

In recent months, there have been overwhelming concerns globally regarding the presence of hazardous levels of lead in toys and other children-related items manufactured in China. This poisonous metal could be harmful for children’s health if taken in by them.

Chinese products have been under fire in the US and other parts of the world since April this year after dangerous toxins were found in goods ranging from toys to toothpaste. Concerns reached their extreme heights when Cheung Shu-hung, the head of Hong Kong-based Lee Der Industrial Co. whose lead-tainted Sesame Street toys were the center of a massive U.S. recall earlier last month, committed suicide on Aug. 11 at his factory's warehouse in China's southern Guangdong province.

The latest recall comes days after the Chinese product safety agency agreed to ban the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States. Under the agreement, which is billed as the second US-Chinese summit on product safety, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine have promised to improve the safety of all toys, fireworks, cigarette lighters and electrical products.

Prompted by the growing recalled list of poor quality Chinese products, the Chinese regulators earlier this month agreed to stop using lead paint on toys exported to the United States and comply with U.S. safety standards.

It has been over 30 years since the American government tightened up on regulations relating to the presence of lead in goods targeted at the children. Lead is a poisonous metal that can damage the nerve connections, especially in young children. It also results in blood and brain disorders, and continuous exposure to lead has been linked with schizophrenia. The U.S. banned lead paint on toys in 1978.