It's a little hard to swallow: more than 85 percent of kids'
drinks contain so much lead they may exceed federal limits for
young children.
Both organic and conventional juices were among the lead-tainted
products, according to the Environmental Law Foundation, a Bay
Area-based environmental nonprofit that used a U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency certified lab to test 400
samples of 150 products marketed to kids.
Of 146 products, 125 were contaminated with enough lead in a
single serving to require a warning label under California's
Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, which is
also known as Prop. 65.
Besides juices in flavors like apple and grape, the products
included fruit cocktail mixes, packaged pears and peaches and
some baby food, according to Inhabitots.com.
The Environmental Law Foundation has sent notices to law
enforcement officials as well as to manufacturers, retailers and
distributors of the lead-tainted products, asking that they
begin to comply with Prop. 65 or to place "clear and reasonable
warnings" on the food packages.
Excessive lead exposure can cause anemia, hearing damage,
behavioral problems, learning disabilities and a host of other
problems in children, according to the Mayo Clinic.