review by a Rutgers Health expert shows that, despite decades of successful efforts to reduce lead exposure, the toxic metal still poses dangers in consumer products that warrant additional attention.

“Consumer products were consistently identified as one of the main sources of lead exposure – and the only identified source in 15 percent to 38 percent of cases – in investigations of children with elevated blood lead levels in these four jurisdictions,” said Adrienne Ettinger, adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Public Health and author of the invited commentary in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Ettinger is the former chief of the Lead Poisoning Prevention and Environmental Health Tracking Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and currently chief of staff for research at Rutgers Health. Ettinger reviewed a study of lead in consumer products in four states: New York, California, Oregon and Washington. That paper, which was co-authored by Rutgers graduate Paromita Hore, came from Pure Earth and state and local health departments in the four states.

Lead is found in consumer products ranging from imported foods and spices to cosmetics, toys and even cake-decorating materials. To read the full story.