The amount of lead in paint sold in Canada has been strictly regulated since 1976. But it's been almost impossible for authorities here to know how much of the substance is being used on toys made for your children outside of the country. What happens when your kids are exposed to lead and why is it so dangerous?
"Lead is toxic to everybody and it's particularly toxic to our nervous systems, our brains, the nerves that control our movements and so on," explains
CityNews Medical Specialist Dr. Karl Kabasele. "So in children, if they're affected by lead, it can actually stunt their growth or stunt the growth of their brains to the point where they won't be able to function to their full intellectual capacity."
The problem is there aren't always immediate signs and by the time there are, it's already too late. "It can take months or years," Kabasele points out. "Unfortunately, a child may be accumulating a lot of lead in their body and have no symptoms at all or the changes may be so subtle. Because the symptoms in children range from everything from just being irritable to having trouble learning at school to changes in behaviour to being sluggish or lethargic. And ... a number of disease processes can cause that."
The latest recall of
toys with lead paint has parents looking at the lists and checking it twice. "When I heard about the recall, I was instantly concerned and knew that I had to check out the toys that were in my house," explains mom Alyssa Douglas. "I got on the computer. I checked the list, and recognized one or two toys that we had."
Like any ailment, early detection is the best hope for reversing any damage. How can you tell if your child is affected? "It can be something as simple as them being irritable, sluggish, lethargic. They may be having troubles at school with behaviour or with learning. Or there may be no symptoms at all."
If you suspect your child may have come into contact with lead paint or ingested it, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. "There's a simple blood test that can be done to assess the level of lead," the doctor outlines. "And if it is elevated, there are treatments that can be done but the number one thing is to remove the source of the lead."
That's done through a process known as
chelation. "It involves infusing a chemical into the blood which seeks out the lead, binds it and then your body can get rid of it naturally."
But even then you may not be off the hook. You may want to search for other lead sources lurking in your home - including soil and the solder in pipes in older homes. For more on the dangers of lead,
click here.