All the coverage about lead paint contaminating some kids’ toys got me to thinking: China also manufactures pet toys and bowls. Are they using the same paint on those as well?
It stands to reason they would. I haven’t seen anything on the news about this yet –at least not in my area– so I Googled it and found that some others had my same train of thought.
Pet Products DO Contain Lead Paint
Albuquerque’s KOAT 7 conducted an investigation into the matter using an at-home lead testing kit. They tested a yellow dog ball, a green ceramic pet bowl, a white ceramic pet bowl, and a bird cage.
The yellow ball didn’t show any lead levels, but the other three items did. In the case of the white ceramic bowl, it came with a disclaimer on it that specified “the materials used as decorations on the exterior of this product contain lead.”
How Much Lead the Investigators Found
The investigation team took the products that tested positive for lead to a lab for further testing to try and assess just how dangerous the lead levels were.
Apparently the Consumer Product Safety Commission has set 600 parts per million (ppm) as the safe standard for lead in paint –but this only applies to people products.
The green bowl came in at 62 ppm (acceptable), the white bowl was 990 milligrams per kilogram (metric equivalent of parts per million), and the bird cage was the most astonishing of all: 8,200 ppm.
Just How Dangerous Is Lead to Our Pets?
There aren’t any standards of what’s an acceptable amount of lead exposure for pets and pet products. The levels outlined under the Hazardous Substances Act apply only to lead exposure for people.
But one vet the KOAT 7 team interviewed said that in the case of the birdcage especially the lead could very detrimentally affect a bird’s health. They are very sensitive to toxins in their environment, including lead, and such a high amount would definitely accumulate to toxic levels in a bird’s body.
However, in the case of the ceramic bowls, animals would have to ingest pieces of the bowls in order to be affected by the lead.
Toys weren’t studied, but having had dogs and knowing that sometimes they do chew off pieces of toys I can’t help but think that some paint flecks contaminated with lead might find their way into the dog’s body. Just how much would prove toxic or lead to complications I don’t know. Nor do I want to find out or have anyone else’s pet become sick before they find out.
For Further Info
To check out Albuquerque’s KOAT 7’s article, click here.
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