Occupational Knowledge International
220 Montgomery Street, Suite 1027
San Francisco, CA 94104
JULY 14, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEAD POISONING FEARED IN JEWELRY RECALL
SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of pounds of lead from toy jewelry now being
dumped into municipal landfills will contaminate public drinking water across the
country, warns Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director of OK International, a
nonprofit environmental organization.
The imported lead-containing jewelry was recalled by The U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) last week after the lead content was discovered.
However, the Commission told consumers to dump more than 100 million pieces
of jewelry into the garbage rather than return it to distributors.
The majority of the lead will go to landfills where it can leach through the
soil into ground water and the remainder will be incinerated, polluting the
air, according to Gottesfeld. “It’s outrageous that the CPSC told everyone to
dump lead in a way that ends up contaminating our air and drinking water,” he
said.,
“Lead in drinking water is very dangerous, especially to infants, young
children, and nursing mothers,” he said.
“We have also discovered that another 16 million pieces of this banned
jewelry now in US warehouses will likely be exported back to India or other
countries with less restrictive regulations.
“Millions of children will be put at risk from lead poisoning in these
countries due to the failure of the US to prevent this hazardous trade.
“The only safe solution is to require the immediate collection and disposal
of the jewelry as hazardous waste ,” Gottesfeld said.
“The CSPC must ask offending importers to provide an address where consumers
can return the banned products, and to dispose of the lead-containing jewelry
in compliance with U.S. regulations instead of exporting it.”
“It’s a major problem in our laws that hazardous products banned and
recalled here can be tossed in the trash or exported to other countries where
health and safety regulations are much weaker or nonexistent.”
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For further information contact:
Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director
Phone: (415) 362-9898 / Fax: (415) 362-9410 / email: okintnl at aol.com
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