Poisonous Christmas Lights, Toys, and Trees

Written by Sarah Cain

During Christmas time, most people tend to be more trusting, and are not as vigilant about protecting themselves as they are throughout the year.  Yet, there are elevated poisoning risks during Christmas.  One of the biggest health threats at Christmas is lead.  Lead is present in the cabling of Christmas lights, and in the solder of artificial Christmas trees.

When purchasing lights, some of the more astute buyers may have noticed this warning:

"Handling the coated electrical wire on this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use."

The lead of Christmas lights is used to stabilize the polyvinyl chloride (PVC plastic), which insulates the wires.  Without lead, the PVC would crack and crumble with age.  Lead is also a fire retardant for the PVC, because PVC is a fire hazard.  So, the manufacturers are using a flammable plastic with a poisonous metal added to it, in order to reduce its flammability, as opposed to simply using a superior plastic.  Surely people would tolerate slightly less flexible Christmas lights in exchange for lead-free lights, which would also be much less likely to burn-down houses during Christmas.

The following video explains that there are safe alternative fire retardants to lead, including calcium and zinc. These are not used because they are more expensive.  It is despicable for them to intentionally lace Christmas decorations with lead, and then dishonestly justify it by pretending that they are acting on behalf of their customer's well-being.  It betrays the unethical behavior of most modern companies.

When Walmart corporation was questioned in 2007 about their lead-laden lights, Walmart cited the following in its official press release:

"It is our understanding that the manufacturers' use of lead in these products is to improve the safety of the lights. We are told that the use of lead is required by Underwriters Laboratory, an organization that certifies the safety of lighting products in the United States. The amount of lead used is a tiny amount and does not exceed any applicable federal guidelines. Our holiday lights meet industry standards and are compliant with state and federal regulations governing their sale."

We have been assured that only safe levels of lead are present in the cords, but lead is bio-accumulative.  It builds up in the liver, and the body cannot normally excrete it.  So, there can be no safe level, because such a figure would have to be based upon previous exposure.  CNN hired a laboratory to conduct a study evaluating lead safety.  That study proves that even safe levels can significantly lower the I.Q., and another study by Michigan State University proved that lead in the blood is a contributing factor to Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.).

"Even at one microgram/deciliter - the lowest level in a person's blood stream that we can detect - that level has been associated with cognitive impairment in children."

--  Dr. Leo Trasande, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

According to the double-standards set by regulators, the "safe" levels of lead in Christmas lights is higher than what would be considered safe in children's toys.  The study by independent testing organization, Quantez Laboratories, revealed that surface levels of lead on Christmas lights were far higher than the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recommended limit of 15 micrograms for children.  In fact, Walmart brand lights (which were the highest in surface lead), had levels ranging from 86.6 to 132.7 micrograms.

The Intentional Poisonous Chinese Onslaught

Many toys that are being made in China contain lead, along with other chemicals such as B.P.A. and cadmium, which have been proven to be dangerous to children.  The lead-laced toys are already illegal in the United States, but they can be found at almost every U.S. retailer.  Lead toys from China suddenly began appearing during Christmas of 2007.  This sudden categorical inclusion before Christmas indicates that the inclusion was intentional, so it is recommended that readers choose only toys which have been made elsewhere.  This may require extra effort on the part of parents, like for instance, finding gifts online.  Lead typically appears in Chinese-made toys at Christmas time, when purchases would be the highest, whilst lead likewise always appears in Chinese-made lunch boxes at the beginning of the school year.  Such coincidences simply do not occur, and intentionally poisoning children is truly evil.  In more honorable times, this would have been considered an act of war, and the poisoned items would have been immediately removed from retail shelves.  Most Americans were either not told about, or were distracted away from the anti-freeze that the Chinese were adding to toothpastes that were destined for sale in the United States.  The Chinese told U.S. regulators that the anti-freeze was a "sweetener".  They also were caught adding the pesticide melamine to 90% of U.S. infant formulas in 2008, which the F.D.A. subsequently helped the food industry cover-up.  They claimed that the pesticide was to increase the protein content.

Cadmium is a new poisonous material that is appearing in toys from China.  It is a method of continuing the poisoning, despite more aggressive lead testing.  Cadmium levels are not tested, or even regulated, despite it being even more dangerous.  It is very difficult to chelate cadmium out of the body.  The addition of cadmium establishes that this is an intentional poisoning, because unlike lead and its ability to improve plastics and paints, there is no justifiable reason to include it.

The regulators who claim that lead, cadmium and melamine have 'safe levels' are also closely linked to the medical establishment, which profits from treating the hundreds of new and unnatural conditions that are caused by these chemicals.  In fact, the United States' F.D.A. receives only 3% of its funding from taxation, and 97% from private medical companies and the chemical industry.  If that is a hard pill to swallow, then investigate the fact that its original name was 'The Bureau of Chemistry', which better represented its real agenda.  To learn more about its shameful history of harming Americans for profit, watch The Health Wyze Report's documentary, 'The Cancer Report'.

Health Wyze Recommendations

One of the most dangerous aspects of lead is that it absorbs through the skin.  So, just touching Christmas lights or trees is enough for it to enter the body.  The risk increases for young children who will then put their hands in their mouths.  Those who use lead-laced Christmas lights should wear waterproof gloves when handling the lights, then discard the gloves.  Always keep children away from these lights, and from artificial trees.