On December 11, 2007, CNN released an analysis of lead levels in various popular brands of Christmas lights. CNN discovered levels of lead high enough to cause a potential lead poisoning risk in children.

Lead is used in the PVC insulation of Christmas light wiring to stabilize the polyvinyl chloride and prevent cracking, and also as a fire retardant. However, Dr. Leo Trasande, a specialist in children?s environmental health at New York?s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, suggested that levels of lead found in the analyzed Christmas lights could pose a potential lead poisoning threat to children.

?There is no level at which lead exposure is safe. Even at one microgram/deciliter ? the lowest level in a person?s blood stream that we can detect ? that level has been associated with cognitive impairment in children,? Dr. Transande said.

CNN?s ?American Morning? had four popular brands of Christmas lights tested for surface lead by Quantex Laboratories, a New Jersey-based independent testing organization. Quantex Laboratories followed the protocol used by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to test for lead, which consists of a wipe test to see how much lead in the lights? PVC coating would come off on a user?s hands.

Dr. James Menoutis, a lab manager at Quantex, pointed out the danger of too much lead coming off onto a user?s hands. ?You don?t realize there?s lead in it, you eat a cookie, you eat something without washing your hands, that exposure builds up in your body over time,? Dr. Menoutis said.

Quantex found that surface lead levels in all four brands of lights tested exceeded the CPSC?s recommended limit of 15 micrograms for children.

Of the four brands, Wal-Mart brand Christmas lights contained the highest levels of surface lead, with amounts equaling 86.6 to 132.7 micrograms. GE-brand Christmas lights were next, containing levels from 68 to 109.1 micrograms. Sylvania-brand Christmas lights contained surface lead levels of 59 to 70.3. Philips-brand Christmas lights fluctuated in their levels, as one sample contained a safer 3.2 micrograms while another tested sample came in at 107.2.

To help reduce the risk of lead poisoning, experts recommend that only adults should handle the lights, and wash their hands after use. They also recommend that lights should be hung out of children?s reach.

Source: Ronni Berke and Greg Hunter, ?Christmas lights found with potentially unsafe levels of lead,? CNN.Com, December 11, 2007.