Document Z40Vj6aj600oxEVDmJZNy2bpL

RETARDATION LINK Controls Are Studied For Kitchen Items Plated With Silver. FDA Cites Potential Threat Of Lead Poisoning, Issues ,, Call foij jjl Jlj j^r^ihtble Data ^ WASHINGTON (Upl) - altar a potentlally serious( lead-poisoning^threat, the Food and Drug" AHmuiUiratlon started an investigation to determine whether controls should be placed on a wide variety of all* vcr-plated cups, dishes and other kitchen* ware. The agency said it examined 90 different Silver-plated arlicles including baby cups, tinkards, coffee sets, goblets and salad oowls and discovered some of them con* tained lead that could gel into the food they contain. / In some cases, tl said, the lead content bring leached from tlie products was as high ns SIC parts per million, compared with a limit of sevennwrts per million that the agency allows ! ceramic dinnerware. In a notice published in yesterday's Fed* era! ftegfcier.Tlhc agency issued a call tor all available siformntion on wlmt materials are used in silver-plated hollow ware, what such product are used for In terms of the foods they Juitain and other data designed to help it determine whether it should clamp a limit on Ifnd content. Late la* year and earlier this year the FXM recalled some goblets, brandy snifters and baby cups after s check disclosed high lead content. The agency said most of the products are manufactured in the U.S., although a few are imj*i1*'d. Tlie agency said it believed that repeated use by infants of children's cups or bowls with a high lead content could pose a chronic health iiuzurd because children are much more susceptible than adults to brain damage from lead and because children tend to absorb iugested lead to a greater de gree than adults. "However," It Added, "highly frequent txae <i( silver-plntwl hollow-ware items leach* hiy, hijdt b'Veh of b ad may pose a serious health hazard to adults." FDA Warns i Washins1", -- (UPfl-- lh Fori *n4 ffntq Adiii'ntatintjfln S3V1 ntwiy Silver fih'lrd cup';, nnlilrt-., Itmvls and nlli cr diun'Tware may , rnn.--'Vail juilfmiinp..', I -Tin! FTM jl:'.l'-i(lrj n-.lcl anyone v-'ilh iufui m pou in submit It by March I for a dclorniination as In r.lioilmr somclhiofi needs In tf" dnitn. Ills hazard, MIA raid, Is that fond or drink |uit inm Ihn vr?rrls can Irani rprin. kaliy to draw o"l lead. it said children would bo asp*daily surrcplihlstothe lesult* lap r?i?m!'i5. FDA Probes Holloware . Wlsfflngton - (UPI)-fil ing a.pptentlally seriourTead poisoning) threat, the >Faud aiH'Urog Administration has launched an Investigation to determine It controls should be placed on a wide variety ot ailver plated cups, dishes, and other kitchenware. The agency said It exam ined 90 different silver-plated (articles Including beby cups, tankards/ coflce sets, goblets and salad bowls and dis covered/some of them con tained fend which could Pt into the food they contain. - In some cases, It said, the lead foment being leached from Ithe products was as high is 31$ parts per million, commred to e limit ot seven parts per million which the agency atlowi lor ceramic dinnerware. . Noll In Register Inja notice published in the Federal Register, the agency Issued a rail for all available Information on what mate rials ere used In silver-plated hnllpwware, what such prod ucts are used lor in terms of the foods they contain and other data designed to help it determine whether it should clamp a limit on lead content tele last year and earlier this year the FDA recalled some goblets/ brandy snifters and hahy cups niter e check revealed high lead content. The agency said mnst ot the products are manufactured In the United Stales although a tew are imported. Hazard lor Infants The agency seld It believed that repeated use hy Intents ol cups nr bowls with n high lead content could pose a chronic health hazard be cause children are much more susceptible than adulls lo brain damage from lead and because children tend to ab sorb Injested lead to a great er degree than adulls. "However." it added, "highly frequent use ol silver plated holloware Hems leach ing high levels ol lead may pose a serious health hazard (o adults." N39146 Study ot Scottish Children Reports on Contamination of Drinking Water ,,nr Mental retard^ion among Glasgow children has been linked in a Scottisf epdontolog Link to Retardation ical study to fbntamination The lead content In the water was report'd to be higher in the retarded group, and the probability of mental retarda tion was significantly Increased when the lead content In the water exceeded $00 micrograms per titer. The 11 children from names with the highest levels belonged to the group who were mentally retarded. High concentrations of lead are known to damage the brain's gray matter and basal ganglia. But the mechanism by which lead may produce mental retardation is not known. Because energy requirements of the infant brain are greater than those of the mature brain, the doctors suggested that teadl interfered with enzymatic reac-t of drinking wattr with tow levels of lead. I The Scottish loctors found that the probabyity of mental retardation was!much greater when the pregnfent woman or infant drank water containing more than SOOlmicrograms of lead per liter. fSome lead can cross the placenta to the fetus in the womb. 1 The World Health Organiza tion considcrstlOO micrograms the upper limit of acceptability for lead in drinking water. A microgram is ;one*miltionth. of a gram. The results Indicate that "ev ery effort should be made to reduce the lead content of drinking water," the doctors said in their report in the March 15 issue of Lancet, a tions'that proved harmful to. prestigious medical journal the development of the infant f brain. Further, they said, "If the lead content or water is impor published in London. The doc tors did not state those areas where water lead levels exceed ed the W.H.O. recommendation. tant. It Is likely to be especially Mental retardation .results so Tn infants who are bottle, from a Wide variety of causes fed end consume up to two other than lead. This metal's liters of water dally in their potential "importance ties in feeds, and who would seem the fact that lead contamina to have tn increased absorption . tion can be eliminated or at of lead In infancy as compared least reduced" by removing the with adults." A liter Is slightly metal from water tanks and more than a quart. Further support for the re searchers' thesis came from re pipes in the plumbing system, according to the team of 10 researchers from the Glasgow sults of blood tests tor lead, health department, the Univer which were significantly higher sity of Glasgow and two hospi In the group of retertded chil dren. The doctors warned that this evidence by Itself did not Imply n causative role for lead in mental retardation because tals. However, because such mea sures take several years to achieve, they suggested an ef fective alternative short-term "mentally retarded children may have higher blood-lead lev solution -- treating lead-con taminated water supplies in the els than normal, possiblv be holding reservoirs with calcium cause" such craving for children have a paint and other salts such as lime, as has been done in Glasgow. lead-containing substances. To help confirm a cause-and- effect relationship between lead and mental retardation, the doctors recommended a long term study that would measure from blrlli the intelligenre ami mental development of a larger number of children and com pare these results according to the lead levels their mothers drank during pregnancy and what they drank in their forma tive years. However, "there are obvious practical and ethical objections to" such a stud}' In pregnant women "In such high lead ex posure situations since the present high levels of lead in drinking water are totally unac ceptable in such a population," the researchers said. Though evidence exists that* young children's mental capaci ty can be permanently impaired from lead poisoning, research ers have not known if the relatively small amounts of lead in water and the atmos phere represent a hazard to mental development. "As in all epidemiological studies of this type, it is not possible to prove that lead ex posure causes mental retarda tion, but the results are strong* iv suggestive that this is so," the doctors said. The results arc based on a study of 154 children. 77 of whom werr mentally retarded! The othnr half served as scien tific controls, that Is they were healthy children who were not retarded. JU1.3* ,07q,w lead, Bctby Docrilis IMked Harmful amount, of JoadSand cadmium paired Uampregnent women to fheir children/' ' ' eamoofrem, core, oftjffZ' I, a researcher at fho' No* Je,,,y College of Mcdicino and Drni^t-.. -,u