December 12, 2007 | News
Christmas lights have been found to have somewhat alarming amounts of lead. But with so many toys being pulled off the shelves for the same reason, are we really surprised?
The moral of the story is that parents (and grandparents) should hang the Christmas lights out of reach of children, or leave them off the tree entirely. The problem is in the coating of the wires. Lead is a good insulator and gives the wires a higher level of fire-proofing. But unfortunately 4 of the major brands of Christmas lights tested for surface lead - in other words, you touch the strand and it leaves lead residue on your hands. That lead can be absorbed into the skin, just like anything else, or you can quicken its entry into your body by putting your hand to your face, or eating something.
Read the full report at CNN.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://broomhuggers.com/2007/12/12/deck-the-halls-with-lead-filled-lights/trackback/
