Lead Paint Hysteria

Hello my name is Jim DeWald and I run a collectibles business called www.harveysharvest.com. It is coming around to Christmas time again this year, and once more people are beginning to think in terms of gifts to buy.

Last year, the Lead based paint hysteria that gripped the nation, and was driven by the News Media looking to make money by sensationalizing something that in all reality is something we have lived with for hundreds and thousands of years.

First off let me state that yes if Lead is injested it can be dangerous and deadly. And no, nothing that could be handled by a child or put in its mouth should be covered in lead based paint.

But last year at the height of the hysteria there was a news story on TV of a man that spent hours putting up his Christmas lights only to tear them down within minutes, all because he read the box of one of the sets of lights he had bought, and it said contains lead.

The News Story went on to state that the guy later found out that the lead was a small little piece of it used to insulate the plastic casing from the hot wiring within the christmas lights.

In other words the only way his kids could have been poisoned by the lights is if they were licking the inside of one of the Light assemblies and only after chewing through plastic. But yet the guy was going on and on about not being to careful for the sake of ones kids.

Again I am not suggesting selling or purchasing toys for your kids covered in lead based paint. But Lead by itself is not dangerous. I make and collect both Lead based, and Pewter soldiers, mid evil knights and other diecast figurines. The reality is that you can work with lead and handle lead for your entire life and not die from it.

Yes you must clean your hands after doing so, but you should wash you hands after handling anything. Germs are just as deadly as ingested lead.

These are my opinions. I will be posting articles and thoughts periodically, please let me know if you agree or disagree, or are an avid collector yourself. Thanks and if interested please check out www.harveysharvest.com