美国国家公共电台 NPR--Second-hand goods that contain lead are easy to find — they're also toxic

Second-hand¹ goods that contain lead are easy to find — they're also toxic²

Transcript³

Leaded items are easy to find at antique shops, yard sales and discount stores. Second-hand products are hard to regulate, and consumers are often unaware⁴ of the risks the items pose to their health.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

A caution this morning about lead - not in the water but in vintage pieces and some new items popular at discount stores. As the Midwest Newsroom's Niara Savage⁵ reports, there is regulation, but some products can fall through the cracks.

NIARA SAVAGE, BYLINE⁶: At an antique store in downtown Saint Charles, Mo., shoppers are trickling⁷ in to snag deals on vintage toys, furniture and dishes.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: How are you?

SAVAGE: It's a scene repeated every day at thousands of stores and flea⁸ markets across the United States. Thirty-seven-year-old Jennifer Poupard found a vintage military-style trunk at a Michigan flea market in the 1990s. Then a teenager, she used it to store her records. She didn't know the green paint coating the trunk contained lead. Poupard held onto the trunk for years. Around 2014, her child, Wallace, started pulling up on the trunk. That's when Poupard noticed Wallace's motor skills were delayed.

JENNIFER POUPARD: And had eating and feeding issues. At 18, 19 months old was finally pulling to stand and would pull to stand at that trunk and turn around and run to me, and that is around when I noticed the numbers going up.

SAVAGE: The numbers were Wallace's blood lead levels. Wallace got tested regularly for lead. In 2014, the numbers came back at 5.3 micrograms per deciliter, putting Wallace's levels in the top 2 1/2% of children, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Poupard used a home lead test to swab items in her home and identify the culprit.

POUPARD: And I tested the trunk and that was positive - like, immediately bright red on the swab. And I was like, oh, OK, we found the source. We found the source.

SAVAGE: Patty Davis is with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates lead in goods and recalls products when levels are too high. The current standards in place for protecting kids from lead didn't go into effect until 2008.

PATTY DAVIS: You want to keep vintage products, vintage toys away from children. You want to keep - even the toys that you played with as a child, if they were made prior to 2008, you want to keep those away from children.

SAVAGE: Antique items aren't the only lead hazards consumers face. New products can also contain the toxin⁹, especially if they aren't specifically intended for children. While items for kids must meet rigorous standards limiting lead content to 100 parts per million, for general-use items, there remain voluntary standards for lead content in items like jewelry¹⁰. Kids are more vulnerable to lead poisoning because they are more likely to accidentally ingest it by putting their hands in their mouths and because their bodies and brains are still developing. Jose Bravo is with the Campaign for Healthier Solutions, a group lobbying stores to demand manufacturers produce items without lead. Bravo says there's not enough coordinated¹¹ federal protection.

JOSE BRAVO: Most often than not, people would say, well, yeah, you know, the EPA or the Food and Drug Administration or somebody is safeguarding our health when it comes to that. That's not the reality.

SAVAGE: The group's recent product screening report found that more than half of the 100 items purchased at discount stores contain toxic chemicals, including lead. These days, mom Jennifer Poupard avoids vintage items and feels safer using products made after lead-based paint was banned in 1978. And she's also cautious about new products that might contain lead. For NPR News, I'm Niara Savage.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIIV'S "TAKE YOUR TIME")

FADEL: This story comes to us from a collaboration¹² between the Missouri Independent and the Midwest Newsroom investigating levels of lead in children.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIIV'S "TAKE YOUR TIME")

1 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 trickling   

n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Tears were trickling down her cheeks. 眼泪顺着她的面颊流了下来。
• The engine was trickling oil. 发动机在滴油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 flea   

n.跳蚤

参考例句：

• I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话，我就要对他不客气了。
• Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。

9 toxin   

n.毒素，毒质

参考例句：

• Experts have linked this condition to a build-up of toxins in the body.专家已把这一病症与体内毒素的积累联系起来。
• Tests showed increased levels of toxin in shellfish.检验表明水生有壳动物的毒素水平提高了。

10 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

11 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。