ALERT: Wal-Mart Recalls Baby Bibs for DANGEROUS LEAD Content!

The nightmare of unsafe levels of lead in children’s products continues. Now, Wal-Mart is recalling baby bibs sold under the name “Baby Connection.” These bibs are cloth on the top, but they are backed with dangerous PVC vinyl. When you visit the Wal-Mart’s recall page, you are greeted with this smiling man..what’s up with that? Sorry, we exposed your child to dangerous levels of lead, but I am smuggly smiling at you.

I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, in fact, I hate the overconsumerism and sweat labor this store promotes. I have viewed the company’s recent efforts at greenwashing to be profit driven to expand their customer base. A grass roots effort has successfully stopped Wal-Mart from entering the town we go to for services. Eureka still has Ma and Pa shops, with very little chain stores, and we want to keep it that way. Honestly, I can say I have only been inside a Wal-Mart store three times, but I know plenty of families that rely on the low prices for survival. Wal-Mart Watch provides more information on the company.

A grandmother discovered the lead in her grandson’s bib. After hearing about the lead in children’s lunchboxes, she bought a lead test kit (similar to what we did for my daughter’s backpack). The California-based Center for Environmental Health did more tests on the bibs and found lead levels in some Wal-Mart bibs more than 16 times the legal limit for lead in paint! That’s right, 16 TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT FOR LEAD IN PAINT! How could this be? The CEH writes, “‘These vinyl bibs pose a lead poisoning threat to infants and toddlers who are at the most vulnerable age,’ said Caroline Cox, Research Director at CEH and author of a report on lead in baby bibs released by CEH today. ‘As every parent knows, young children commonly chew and suck on their bibs, so if the bib is contaminated, children are being directly exposed to lead.’” Of course, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission claims the lead bibs are safe. They issued a statement on Wednesday saying that the bibs were safe if in good condition. If a bib “deteriorates to the point that a baby could pull or bite off and swallow a piece of vinyl containing the lead, then the amounts of lead consumed could approach levels of concern.”

Why do they put lead in baby bibs? To make them softer, of course! Here’s an alternative….organic cotton! Bumkins Organic Cotton Bibs offer softness without lead (imagine that),and you don’t have to worry about your child chewing on the edges or eating food that has fallen on the bib. Bumkins Organic Cotton Bibs are the way to go if you have a child learning to eat.

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