By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    In the wake of a guide to toxic chemicals in toys released only weeks into the holiday season Saco Grange Community Service Director Darlene Levesque said the Saco Grange is not accepting toys as gifts for children in shelters in Cumberland and York counties this holiday season.
    The Saco Grange hosts an annual bean supper in December where they accept toys to be distributed to children at the Chestnut Street Family Shelter in Portland and the Domestic Violence Shelter in York County.
    “Because of the lead paint poisoning, the city of Portland doesn’t want anything to happen to their children,” Levesque said.
    Cynthia Babb, donations coordinator for the Portland Family Shelter, said the shelter isn’t accepting toys because of other reasons.
    “We are not in the toy distributing business,” Babb said. “We are going to leave the toys to the toy distributers.”
    Babb said the Portland Family Shelter works to connect people with the Salvation Army, and although the shelter has accepted toy donations in past years, now they are working more toward getting families housed.
    On Dec. 5, the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, a coalition of Maine-based organizations which have embarked on a multi-year public health campaign to phase out toxic chemicals, according to their Web site, released the Consumer Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys, which outlined the chemicals found in more than 1,500 toys tested by the Ecology Center.
    The findings were then uploaded to a database at www.healthytoys.org where parents can easily check how products rank from highest to lowest in terms of lead, cadmium and other chemical levels associated with reproductive problems, learning disabilities and cancer.  
    Among the results, 35 percent of the products contained lead, with 17 percent above the federal recall standard for lead paint. Forty-seven percent were made from PVC, which could contain hormone disrupting chemicals known as phthalates. Almost 3 percent contained the known carcinogen and toxic metal cadmium.
    Levesque said although the grange can’t provide toys for children in the shelters, they will still hold a gift-raising event, which they will collect gift cards for $5 to places where the children can buy the toys themselves. She said the grange has scheduled the annual bean supper for Dec. 15. People can come from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. to drop off gift cards or cash, which will be used to purchase gift cards.
    MaryAnn Amrich, manager for the Center of Disease Control’s Children’s Lead Program, said those who are most vulnerable to lead poisoning are children between the ages of 1 and 2 years-old.
    “They are pretty active, they put everything in their mouth because they explore by putting things in their mouth,” she said. “Children at younger ages absorb chemicals at much higher rates than older people. Their neurological system is still in the process of developing.”
    Amrich said children absorb 50 percent of what they ingest and keep 90 percent in their bodies, while adults absorb 10 percent of what they ingest and keep 10 percent.
    The lead program was created in an effort to collect information on lead poisoning incidences in Maine. The program also provides information and coordinates with several other businesses, including the Maine Housing Authority, to provide families with the necessary supplies to do lead abatements or get lead testing completed in their homes.
    Amrich said the reason the program concentrates on housing is due to the number of incidences of lead poisoning in homes. In Maine so far, she said the cases haven’t been toy related.
    “We have not identified any children in Maine with high lead levels related to the toys with high lead levels,” Amrich said. “Our concern with the toys is that there is always the potential for an acute exposure, like when a child puts a toy in its mouth and another toy and another which all have lead.”
    Amrich said because children retain more chemicals in their systems than adults, they are at a higher risk of ingesting lead from multiple sources. She added one major source of lead poisoning in Maine has been from lead dust found in homes and dirt.
    The symptoms of lead poisoning aren’t so easy to spot, Amrich said, adding the center works with families who believe their children have come in contact with lead. They look for cognitive defects and learning disabilities. She said lead levels, (which are on based on a never-ending scale, more than 20 or 30) are most likely to show effects. In Maine, Amrich said 200 people a year have positive results of 10 or more on the lead scale.
    “That sounds awful, but the numbers are coming down,” she said. “We are doing screenings and educating people more.”
    Currently, Amrich said the program is advising all parents to have their children tested for lead at 1 years-old and 2 years-old. She said the test is a simple blood test, which can be done in the finger or in the arm. She said the doctor will usually talk to the parent to find where the lead could have come from if the test is positive.
    The Children’s Lead Program sends information to parents if a child tests positive with a rate between 10 and 15. She said if the rate is more than 15 the center will call the parent.
    “The majority of these cases come when people are doing renovations to their homes,” Amrich said. “When you start disturbing the paint it gets dragged around the house.”
    Amrich said her only advice to parents is to have their children tested and their homes tested if they think the children have lead poisoning. She said the center is hopeful the federal government will start taking more action.
    “There is some testing that can be done,” she said. “But it is not fool-proof. My advice is buy more locally made and wood toys.”   
To contact Ashley St. Michel, call 282-4337 ext. 228 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.