Instrument to Identify Hazardous Children's Products that Could Cause Lead Poison

描述（申请人提供）：总结铅及其化合物被评为对人类健康构成最大威胁的主要化学品之一。从电子产品、家用产品到玩具，在许多消费品中都发现了大量的铅。1997年，消费品安全委员会报告说，已查明并采取行动减少或消除儿童可能接触到铅的一些消费品中的铅中毒风险。这些受到严重关注的产品包括进口蜡笔、进口无光泽乙烯基迷你百叶窗、游乐场设备、儿童珠宝和服装。对消费品中使用的铅含量有监管限制。然而，许多是自愿的，大多数只适用于为6岁或6岁以下的幼儿使用而制造的物品。不幸的是，铅确实会进入玩具。2006年2月，一名4岁男孩在吞下一块含铅玩具后死于铅中毒。这场悲剧导致近一百万件类似玩具被召回。目前还没有实用的、成本效益高的方法来测试消费品中的铅含量。现有的技术要么非常昂贵，要么必须将样品送到实验室。因此，一种实用的、具有成本效益的质量保证技术的可用性可以帮助预防未来铅中毒引起的疾病和死亡。这项拟议的努力将审查设计一个非常便宜，操作简单，手持仪器，革命性的检测器技术的基础上的可行性。拟议的仪器将用于制造商，分销商，公共安全人员，并可能零售商店和家长，以检查商品的铅含量。叙述铅及其化合物对人类健康构成巨大威胁，特别是对儿童。在21世纪世纪，铅的主要来源之一是儿童产品和玩具，这似乎不太可能。本申请旨在研究和开发可用于测试消费品铅含量的技术。其结果将是一个非常便宜，安全，易于使用的仪器，以测试铅在儿童产品的存在，之前，他们到达商店货架。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Summary Lead and its compounds have been rated as one of the leading chemicals posing the greatest threat to human health. Significant amounts of lead are found in a multitude of consumer goods, ranging from electronics, household goods, to toys. In 1997, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported identifying and taking action to reduce or eliminate the risk of lead poisoning from a number of consumer products in which lead was accessible to children. These products of serious concern include imported crayons, imported non-glossy vinyl miniblinds, playground equipment, children's jewelry and clothing. There are regulatory limits to the content of lead used in consumer products. However, many are voluntary and most apply only to items that are manufactured for use by very young children six years of age or younger. Unfortunately, lead does find it's way into toys. In February 2006, a four year old boy died of lead poisoning after swallowing a piece of a toy containing lead. This tragedy has resulted in a recall of nearly one million similar toys. There is no practical, cost effective method for testing consumer products for lead content. Existing techniques are either very expensive or samples must be sent to laboratories. Thus, the availability of a practical, cost-effective, quality assurance technology could help prevent future illness and deaths from lead poisoning. This proposed effort will examine the feasibility of designing a very inexpensive, simple to operate, hand-held instrument, based on a revolutionary detector technology. The proposed instrument will be used by manufacturers, distributors, public safety personnel, and possibly retail stores and parents, to examine goods for lead content.Narrative Lead and its compounds pose a great threat to human health, especially in children. As unlikely as it seems in the 21st century, one of the remaining major sources of lead is in children's products and toys. This application proposes to investigate and develop technology that can be used to test consumer products for lead content. The result will be a very inexpensive, safe, and easy to use instrument to test for the presence of lead in children's products, before they reach store shelves.