I am not an alarmist.

If you come to me with warnings about yeast in your food or artificial coloring in the jell-o or radiation coming from your TV, I'm likely to pat you on the back and tell you to loosen up--I'm just not going to live scared of everything and neither should you. We are ALL "terminal" and I think the stress and worry over some of this stuff will shorten your life as much as any smidgen of pesticide on your apple peel.

That said, I am beginning to be concerned about lead. My kids aren't small enough that this should be an issue any more, but many of you have little ones that suck on their crib rails, put toys in their mouths, and come into contact with many different products that have recently been found to contain unacceptable levels of lead. And lead poisoning is cumulative: the more sources your child is exposed to, the more dangerous it is.

This morning I was made aware of a home test you can now perform on the items in your environment that might be possible sources of lead. If I still had children under six, this would be a priority for me, as would a check for lead levels in their blood. It's nothing to mess around with...check out this link and give some serious thought to testing the items most likely to find their way into your precious kids' mouths....

Lead Check

Labels: Children, Health