Is just a little bit of lead really harmful?
Health experts argue that there is no safe level of lead exposure for children or pregnant women. Since recent science suggests that there is truly no safe lead exposure for children and pregnant women, it is disturbing that manufacturers are allowed to continue to sell lead-containing lipsticks,” according to Dr. Sean Palfrey, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston University and the medical director of Boston’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. Lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral problems such as lowered IQ, reduced school performance and increased aggression. Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, because lead easily crosses the placenta and enters the fetal brain where it can interfere with normal development. In a review of recent science published in the April 2008 Current Opinion in Pediatrics, David C. Bellinger, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School concluded: No level of lead exposure
