Environmental group warns school heads of lead-tainted medals

MANILA, Philippines - An environmental group alerted school officials about graduation medals that may be tainted with lead – a chemical that can cause permanent brain injury.

The EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force on Chemical Safety has cautioned private and public schools, as well as childcare and learning centers, against procuring or accepting medals made of lead alloy or embellished with lead-containing paint.

The group urged school officials, particularly procurement personnel, to be careful when choosing and giving medals because “even very low levels of lead cause brain damage in children.”

It also exhorted schools to advise recipients not to play, bite, lick or suck on their medals to avoid the possibility of ingesting lead.

Children and other people could be exposed to lead through inhalation, ingestion, and in minimal cases, through skin absorption.

The EcoWaste Coalition issued the warning after analyzing the heavy metal contents of 30 medals, mostly for kindergarten, preparatory and grade school achievers, lent by colleagues or bought from medal makers in Sta. Cruz and Quiapo, Manila.

Using an x-ray fluorescence device, the group detected lead in 22 of the 30 samples (73 percent) that was way above the US allowable limit of 90 parts per million (ppm) for lead in paint or any similar surface coatings.

No detectable levels of lead were found in unpainted, generic gold, silver and bronze medals.

A yellow-painted sample led the pack of “dirty medals,” with a whopping 123,800 ppm of lead.

The other top five “dirty medals” had elevated levels of lead at 74,400, 48,000, 46,100, 39,500 and 37,000 ppm each.

Two “unofficial” medals showing the blue and red logo of the Department of Education (DepEd) had 943 and 14,100 ppm lead contents, respectively.

“We find it odd that lead, a nasty chemical linked to delayed development, stunted growth, reduced IQ scores and behavioral problems, is used in making medals that are meant to honor a child’s academic and extra-curricular achievements,” said Aileen Lucero of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.

“Experts have not identified a safe threshold for lead exposure, especially among kids. This is why we insist that children’s products, including medals, school supplies and toys, should be certified lead-free. We need to take every possible step to reduce lead exposure among our children,” she said.

Lucero said the DepEd should step in and order schools to give out only medals with no lead and other chemicals of concern.

The group said the agency should amend its graduation guidelines and add a policy that will protect youngsters from exposure to lead-containing medals.

Citing information from the World Health Organization, the group warned that “at high levels of acute exposure, lead attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions and even death.”