# Lead paint
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 2, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162 "2007-08-02T18:37:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/1 "2007-08-02T18:37:57Z")
Does lead paint have any valid use any more? Why on earth is it even being manufactured anywhere? If a company can’t make money unless it uses this poison, it shouldn’t exist. Damn it the stuff’s poison; no nation on Earth should allow a factory to manufacture it.
We’d be doing a service if we bombed every lead paint factory on earth.
As you may have surmised, I’m angry because they used this crap in my kids Thomas The Tank Engine wooden toys.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/2 "2007-08-02T18:47:47Z")
The problem is that non-lead based paints just aren’t as good. They don’t hold color nearly as long as lead paint. Sure, it makes you go crazy and die, but that’s a small price to pay for reds that won’t fade.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/3 "2007-08-02T18:48:01Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob]
We’d be doing a service if we bombed every lead paint factory on earth.
[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t this just make Sherwin Williams’ ‘Cover the Earth’ logo a reality?
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### Author:  [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/4 "2007-08-02T18:48:39Z")
The way I heard it phrased, there was a mistake in the paint manufacturing that caused too much lead to be in it, not that they set out to make lead-based paint in the first place.
Can’t find the link, now. Rumor?
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### Author:  [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/5 "2007-08-02T18:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=Miller]
The problem is that non-lead based paints just aren’t as good. They don’t hold color nearly as long as lead paint. Sure, it makes you go crazy and die, but that’s a small price to pay for reds that won’t fade.
[/QUOTE]
The paints chips are a lot tastier, too. Tangy, with a hint of lime zest.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/6 "2007-08-02T19:00:55Z")
This worked out great for me, the little one had some Elmo guitar that I couldn’t stand. Well it was one of the recalls so straight into the trash it went. 😃
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### Author:  [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/7 "2007-08-02T19:10:27Z")
[QUOTE=Edward The Head]
This worked out great for me, the little one had some Elmo guitar that I couldn’t stand. Well it was one of the recalls so straight into the trash it went. 😃
[/QUOTE]
I will draw and quarter anyone that gets my daughter that kind of shit. 😉
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### Author:  [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/8 "2007-08-02T19:46:30Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet]
The way I heard it phrased, there was a mistake in the paint manufacturing that caused too much lead to be in it, not that they set out to make lead-based paint in the first place.
Can’t find the link, now. Rumor?
[/QUOTE]
[Link](http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/01/news/companies/fisherpricerecall/index.htm?postversion=2007080121).
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### Author:  [@kurilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurilla)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/9 "2007-08-02T19:49:06Z")
I have heard (rumor?) that lead-based paint resists mold and mildew growth better than non-lead-based paint. (And thanks to the magic of google, I know that it is [not a rumor](http://rehabadvisor.pathnet.org/sp.asp?id=10420)).
I, however, live in a desert, so mold and mildew are pretty much unknown to me…
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/10 "2007-08-02T19:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=mswas]
I will draw and quarter anyone that gets my daughter that kind of shit. 😉
[/QUOTE]
With or without the lead paint?
Seriously, though, what kind of Quality Control does Playskool have to even let those products get sent to the stores? And what other thought-to-be-reputable companies are selling toys with lead paint?
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/11 "2007-08-02T19:55:47Z")
[Elmo] Elmo toxic? Elmo sad. [/Elmo]
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/12 "2007-08-02T20:05:09Z")
Of course, guess where the toys were made?
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/13 "2007-08-02T20:09:50Z")
[QUOTE=silenus]
Of course, guess where the toys were made?
[/QUOTE]
But they don’t go straight from the docks to the toy store, do they? There’s got to be a stop along the way to a building that has the logo of the company on it. Open up a few of those Chinese-made toys (especially lately) and inspect the damn things!
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/14 "2007-08-02T20:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum]
But they don’t go straight from the docks to the toy store, do they? There’s got to be a stop along the way to a building that has the logo of the company on it. Open up a few of those Chinese-made toys (especially lately) and inspect the damn things!
[/QUOTE]
What you expect American companies to take responsibility for dangerous products made in china! It is in their interest to not discover problems.
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### Author:  [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/15 "2007-08-02T21:02:11Z")
So, don’t buy anything from china if it is going to ever touch anyone, or anything that you care about.
Don’t take their word for it that things are better. Wait fifteen years or so, and then check the product safety record. If they have been good, fine, buy some stuff, and try it out.
Free market only works if people realize that they, and they alone are responsible to make selling crap unprofitable. Let Playskool know they are on probation, and one more screw up, and they go on the fifteen year list, too.
Tris
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### Author:  [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/16 "2007-08-02T21:06:35Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970]
[Link](http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/01/news/companies/fisherpricerecall/index.htm?postversion=2007080121).
[/QUOTE]
Thanks! CNN was not my friend earlier.
And this, from the article, clears it up
> [@](#):
>
> the plastic toys, which include popular preschool characters like Elmo, Big Bird, and Dora, were made by a contract manufacturer in China **using a non-approved paint pigment** containing lead, which is in violation of its standards.
Bolding mine.
Seems like China’s big production problems have mostly been due to corner cutting.
I could almost accept maliciousness better than incompetence.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/17 "2007-08-02T21:15:51Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus]
Let Playskool know they are on probation, and one more screw up, and they go on the fifteen year list, too.
[/QUOTE]
Of course, you meant to say Fisher Price.
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### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/18 "2007-08-02T21:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy]
Of course, you meant to say Fisher Price.
[/QUOTE]
Nah, this is how you deal with dangers today. Fisher pice screws up; go searching for WMD’s at Playskool. Keep everyone off balance.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/19 "2007-08-02T23:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy]
Of course, you meant to say Fisher Price.
[/QUOTE]
Let’s do a punitive boycott of Playskool instead. They suck without even being toxic.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-paint/414162/20 "2007-08-03T00:11:55Z")
[QUOTE=boytyperanma]
What you expect American companies to take responsibility for dangerous products made in china! It is in their interest to not discover problems.
[/QUOTE]
I think in most cases the American companies have discovered the problems. However, products get qualified at the beginning of production, with agreements about component use. There has to be some level of trust, and most companies don’t assume their supply chain contains immoral scum. And remember, I’m sure the contract was done before the latest problems showed up.
When I started in the computer business it was common practice to do incoming inspection on parts arriving at your factory. Today that’s very rare, since component suppliers know to ship parts to a given quality standard. Unless you are dealing with health critical items, you can’t afford to inspect everything on the assumption your partners are untrustworthy.
I suppose the only solution is to boycott Chinese made products to force companies to source elsewhere. That should convince the Chinese government to put these scum up in front of a firing squad, which will eventually fix the problem.
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