Blog Posts

Something new I learned this week: anti-fouling (boat) paints do not have ANY limits on their lead content. In fact, historically, red lead primer was used on them, which contains… wait for it… a whopping 80% lead! Yeah so remember how we all thought lead paint was banned? Well, surprise! That’s was only residential paints. Boat paints have still been allowed to be lead paint all this time. And not only lead… boat paints have historically had an incredible amount of super toxic stuff in them, because that stops stuff growing on them. Last year a decade-long-coming ban went into effect which banned a bunch of toxic components. And that also means that all current boats likely have these toxic components in them. Boat painting is such a toxic endeavour that the EPA has a whole info sheet detailing how to do it without poisoning yourself and the environment. Sounds like something that would make a good toy for kids? Ha! Well then you might be surprised to learn that schools, daycares and playcentres all across the country love to throw old boats into their outdoor play areas! Even the Auckland Zoo had one until recently. And all the old real boats I’ve personally seen in playgrounds have had chipping deteriorating paint. So please spread the word on this one. Old boats are NOT safe for kids to play on. Please dispose of them responsibly.

I was chatting with a friend about her high power bill. I asked if maybe her water cylinder was set too high… Friend: Yes! It’s so hot the kids can just use the hot water straight from the tap to cook their nood—- Me: Whoa wait, what?! Nooo you gotta stop that. This is what I told her… Don’t consume the water from the hot tap. Two reasons: 1) Drinking water pipes, fittings, solder, and tapware have lead in them. Hot water pulls the lead from these much better than cold water does, especially since hot water can sit there, absorbing lead, for longer than cold water might. 2) Hot water cylinders may trap lead if sediment from upstream sources deposit it there and undoubtedly the cyclinder components contain lead as well. The bottom of your cylinder might be a sludge of lead and other junk. Literally the only thing your council is required to do regarding lead in water is publish an ad in your newspaper recommending everyone flush their water before drinking it, to get the stagnant leaded water in your tap out before filling your glass. And they’ll usually mention not to drink the hot water too. But nobody sees this and if they do, they think it’s a temporary notice for something they haven’t heard about. Avoiding drinking from the hot tap has been a public health recommendation since like forever, even way back to England where their hot water feeder tanks in the attics are made of pure lead. At least we don’t have that, haha. But still, don’t drink or cook from the hot water tap. Definitely don’t use it for making baby formula. Teach your kids! Maybe they will help you remember

Windows like these are one way my son was poisoned by lead. I didn’t know at the time but have since learned that pure lead (like in the cames of leadlight and stained glass windows) create extreme amounts of lead dust. No movement or touching is required. It just rains down onto windowsills, curtains, carpets, whatever is within a metre of them. I’ve seen people with these above salt and pepper in a kitchen window, candles and nicknacks, or the absolute worst- kids toys and books. Anything under them will be absolutely covered in lead. Kids who touch these items and put their hands in their mouths could be exposed to significant amounts of lead. Babies who crawl on carpets under these windows (like my son) can be exposed to too much lead. They are a massive hazard that the authorities don’t recognise as a source of lead poisoning, but are as important as lead paint as a danger to small children. Please share this message.

It’s that time of year again, when people start complaining about their dogs being terrorised by fireworks. But there’s actually another reason everyone should be upset about fireworks: They are terrible for air quality- full of metals and carcinogens, creating hazardous air pollution that contributes to lifelong health problems. And yes, they can contain lead too. A 2020 New Zealand study on the matter has some concerning results. Of the tested fireworks, a pack labeled as safer for kids actually created some alarming levels of airborne lead and arsenic, with sparklers singled out as having the highest lead content. Another 2020 study from the US found one kind of firework with 40,000 ppm lead in the collected air fraction. Even our local GNS air quality monitoring data show a spike on their graphs of airborne lead from Guy Fawkes celebrations every year. The thing is- not every firework has lead, but it is common, and there’s no way to know which ones do or don’t have it. So, should we avoid fireworks altogether and shut ourselves inside our homes with air purifiers on for the whole first part of November? Well, maybe… but let’s try to be reasonable. My recommendations would be: 1) AVOID SPARKLERS, full stop. If that’s not possible, limit it to ONE per child, and only outdoors with lots of air flow, not in a garage or under a canopy. Wash hands afterward and before eating. 2) Let the adults light off the fireworks and keep kids at a distance, up wind. 3) Dispose of all fireworks waste in a bin, away from kids, pets and your soil. 4) Limit children’s time outdoors after fireworks. 5) If you have an air purifier, use it on max power through the weekend. 6) Consider supporting community efforts to ban personal fireworks use in NZ, which is more consistent with other countries/ laws. Exposure to individuals through personal fireworks is far more concerning than through professional fireworks shows. Plus there’s the poor dogs and horses to think of too. I’ll post some links below. https://www.wired.com/story/your-firework-smoke-could-be-tainted-with-lead/ https://tamararubin.com/2021/07/im-concerned-that-my-child-may-have-just-inhaled-potentially-leaded-fireworks-fumes-what-should-i-do/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-020-11889-4 https://environment.govt.nz/assets/Publications/Files/heavy-metals-black-carbon-and-natural-sources-report.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7330945/

School holidays! I hope you are enjoying (or at least surviving) them! Seems like a good time to talk about lead in tourist attractions. Our family has taken very few holidays, but when we have I’ve spotted some seriously leaded things. Sometimes I’ve said something, sometimes not. I’m curious if you guys have experienced this too? What have you seen that’s shocked you? I’ll start. Rotorua’s Paradise Valley Springs. On the walking loop every park guest goes through this repurposed old door that is covered in what appears to be deteriorating lead paint. Check out the alligator patterns! Notice the lack of paint where hands have rubbed it all off. (And then probably gone and eaten snacks or lunch afterwards). Auckland’s Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium. An antique printing press table where all the little drawers once held letter pieces made of high-lead alloys. These drawer/shelf units contain high lead dust. There were even some silvery pieces left in some of them. And this was within easy reach of kids. I emailed them about it but never heard back. Auckland Zoo. There was an old boat set up as a place for kids to play. Boat paints are notoriously toxic. They can be very high in lead since they were exempted from the bans of lead in house paints. And older paints have other toxins that are now banned because of how nasty they were. The paint in this boat was completely deteriorating, at the perfect height for crawling little guys to touch. Gisborne’s Tairawhiti Museum has a section where a big old ship has been made into a museum. Kids can crawl up ladders covered in shiny brass (brass has lead), wander around corridors flanked in leadlight windows (which constantly shed high-lead dust onto the floor) and even enjoy this leadlight cabinet where the tiniest of babies can touch or lick pure lead if their parents put them down and don’t know any better. I tried to talk to the receptionist about it and was told “people like those old cabinets!” Have you noticed things like this too? Let’s see! We need to educate these places. Maybe if enough of us say something they won’t write us off.

Link to more info here: https://www.dailysabah.com/life/health/lead-poisoning-linked-to-5m-annual-deaths-in-shocking-study?fbclid=IwAR3pwVZS3zoiBiGYENt0X6-bKodVFRALx3siZNJ1KGYmbjtPZwLXYpAX5tY

Since I’ve got grumpy men on my mind… I always think about this research when ornery old (mostly) men get all snippy about lead. You know, the whole “What are you freaking out about, we used to chew on lead for breakfast! And I turned out FINE!” gaslighting thing. I’m sure you’ve got one in your life. Well here’s a study that showed people with higher lead in their neighbourhood growing up were more likely to score poorly on personality tests. Contrary to the norm, as they aged, they actually got worse scores for agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. (And there was another study linking the higher chance of being a psychopath, but I’d have to go look for that one). Similarly, recent Dunedin study research found that at age 45, participants with higher lead exposure also had potentially concerning changes in their brain scans. The same individuals also had cognitive function and IQ declines, which were noticed by their loved ones but not by the participants themselves. So in summary, lead poisoning can create disagreeable, neurotic, unconscientious older people with poor memory and self awareness. Great combo, eh? So every time I get some hate from some grumpy grandpa, I just want to say see? You prove my point entirely. (But also, I should mention that you needn’t be concerned your lead exposed children will become psychopaths, the chances are still very small…) Personality Changes – Story: – Study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2020104118?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&fbclid=IwAR03ZGoEsADkcuKRov1-FTUiQfgb28uuxHvksVWBxf8BdsKJDpuOElDMmRo Dunedin Study – Story: https://today.duke.edu/2020/11/childhood-lead-exposure-leads-structural-changes-middle-aged-brains?fbclid=IwAR2GG5Zrpf0lhNExFGWQmat-MCJsLQ8uSVg3nqsq6Nm0TX4rRUoEGkthud0 – Study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2772961?utm_campaign=articlePDF&utm_medium=articlePDFlink&utm_source=articlePDF&utm_content=jama.2020.19998&fbclid=IwAR2M9ZH5rM7Le4qVacxqtsDNuEg-qFRNaV4zb_xaTO7dk4fHwM2W17vdM3k

Ugh. Seriously. The lead concerns are NEVER ENDING in our house. If you know my background, we spent years and incredible stress to renovate the lead hazards in our house. Then we worked our butts off and spent months and thousands of dollars to deal with the contaminated soil. So last week we had some builders come over to finish the window frames and scribers around where weatherboards were replaced. Inside I thought I heard/saw scraping on the window frame. But I was confused since I knew there wasn’t any original window frame left on the sides there. My husband also confirmed this. So, we literally had no idea why this would happen…. But yesterday I went to check and found lead paint chips underneath the windows. On the ground. Mixed into the mulch/soil that was supposed to be clean now. Where my kids play sometimes messing around with whatever bits of wood and loose parts are there. So even when you think you’ve taken care of the vast majority of the lead paint in these old houses, it somehow finds a way to be exposed by builders and make fresh hazards!!!! I’m just beside myself.

Ive just left the Wasteminz Residential Lead conference, where I’ve spent the last two days with THE PEOPLE who care about reducing New Zealander’s exposure to lead. I’ve made some great connections. I’ve heard some awesome talks. I presented yesterday about my story and some of your stories. We started something here that I really feel is the start of some concerted multidisciplinary efforts to make an impact on lead poisoning. I’m so grateful to have been a part of it and I am so hopeful of things to come!

Everybody seems to asking about Temu, since they are bombarding everyone with ads on every platform. So I just wanted to put out a warning to beware buying toys and kids products from sites like this. And that includes Wish, Aliexpress and Amazon too. Sites like this have zero accountability and can skirt children’s safety regulations like there’s no tomorrow. If their products are found to be unsafe with lead paint or extreme choking hazards, all they would do is quietly remove the product from their site. You will not get any notification or recall. Your kid will keep playing with it and you’ll have no idea. So even though the prices are attractive, the risk is huge. Best to stick with traditional local retailers.