Lead Poisoning: America Will Suffer

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In this day and age consumers always want more and they want it at the lowest price possible, but are they willing to risk the danger that could derive from it? Hundreds of thousands of toys are imported daily from overseas countries, such as China, into the United States, some toys are inspected for irregularities, but most are not. This may not seem like such a problem but the truth of the matter is that it is one of the larger problems in the nation right now. Children’s toys imported from China are found to be contaminated with high levels of lead and infecting American children with lead poisoning. Some people may say that this is an unnecessary argument, that China isn’t doing anything harmful, maybe it was just a few faulty toys, but that sadly, is not the case. Over the last several years, thousands of cases of lead poisoning in children from toys were reported. In order to turn these numbers around, the United States must regulate trade with foreign countries; specifically China due to the high levels of lead found in Chinese produced toys, as well, they must take action to prevent lead poisoning among American children in an effort to improve America’s health and to promote better trade with other countries.

The United States needs to take action against this epidemic and the way to do this is by regulating trade to prevent children from being exposed to faulty toys with high levels of lead in them. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Toys ‘R’ Us recalled 50,000 packages of multicolored sidewalk chalk in 2003 because of the high levels of lead contained in the chalk. This is not a new problem, and action can be taken. One way to take action against this would for every single toy to be regulated and checked once...

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...t, 15 Aug. 2007. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

"More Lead-poison Toys from China Recalled." A Free Press for a Free People. 20 June 2007. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

Obama, Barack. "Obama: U.S. Must Protect Children From Lead, Safeguard Imported Toys, Writes Ambassador Schwab." Democratic Underground. Democratic Underground, 14 Aug. 2007. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

"Products Recalls." Opposing Viewpoints. San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Dec. 2003. Web. 01 Mar. 2011.

Schmidt, Charles W. "Face to Face with Toy Safety: Understanding an Unexpected Threat." EBSCOhost.com. EBSCOhost, Feb. 2008. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

Sharmer, Laurel. "Newly Recognized Pathways of Exposure to Lead in the Middle-Income Home." EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost, Oct. 2007. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. Weidenhamer, Jeffrey D. "Lead Contamination of Inexpensive Seasonal and Holiday Products." EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost, Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

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