The world's largest toy company has recalled almost 1 million toys because their manufacturer in China used lead-containing paint to color the loveable characters of Elmo, Big Bird, Dora the Explorer, Diego, and others. Lead is a cheap way to make bright colors last; it is also toxic to children's growing brains if it gets in their mouths. Lead is a vivid example of how some industrial chemicals can impact health. At blood levels less than 10 millionths of a gram (per dL) it can decrease intelligence. At levels as low as 2 millionths of a gram, it can quadruple the odds of developing ADHD. In fact, environmental lead getting into kids' bodies is the single largest known cause of ADHD in the US, calculated to account for about 290,000 cases in this country alone, or about 16 percent of all ADHD. The younger the child, the bigger the impact, with unborn babies at the highest risk. But what about the other environmental causes of this and other...(continue reading)

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