An Evaluation of plastic toys for lead contamination in day care centers in the Las Vegas valley

An Evaluation of Plastic Toys for Lead Contamination in Day Care Center in the Las Vegas Valley by Joseph Alan Greenway Dr. Shawn L. Gerstenberger, Committee Chair Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health School of Community Health Sciences University of Nevada, Las Vegas The harmful effect of childhood exposure to environmental lead continues to be a major health concern. This study examined lead contamination within the plastic of children's toys. It was also hypothesized that the use of lead as a stabilizer would result in higher incidents of elevated lead (> 600 ppm) in polyvinyl chloride plastics (PVC) than non-PVC plastics. It was also hypothesized that, due to the use lead chromate, yellow toys would have higher incidents of elevated lead (> 600 ppm) than toys of other colors. Toy samples were limited to those found in day care centers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ten day care centers were visited and approximately 50 toy samples were taken from each center. Of the 535 toys tested, 29 contained lead in excess of 600 parts per million (ppm). Of those 29, 20 were PVC and 17 were yellow. Both of the two hypotheses were strongly supported by the data. In addition to examining lead contamination, the presence of other heavy metals was observed. It was found that when lead was elevated, there was a high probability (P = 0.72) of the presence of elevated concentrations (> 100 ppm) of