10 posts tagged “public health”

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
28 Apr 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is undermining the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to determine health dangers of toxic chemicals by letting nonscientists have a bigger — often secret — say, congressional investigators say in a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The administration's decision to give the Defense Department and other agencies an early role in the process adds to years of delay in acting on harmful chemicals and jeopardizes the program's credibility, the Government Accountability Office concluded.

At issue is the EPA's screening of chemicals used in everything from household products to rocket fuel to determine if they pose serious risk of cancer or other illnesses.

A new review process begun by the White House in 2004 is adding more speed bumps for EPA scientists, the GAO said in its report, which will be the subject of a Senate Environment Committee hearing Tuesday. A formal policy effectively doubling the number of steps was adopted two weeks ago.

Cancer risk assessments for nearly a dozen major chemicals are now years overdue, the GAO said, blaming the new multiagency reviews for some of the delay. The EPA, for example, had promised to prepare assessments on 10 major toxic chemicals for external peer review by the end of 2007, but only two reached that stage.

GAO investigators said extensive involvement by EPA managers, White House budget officials and other agencies has eroded the independence of EPA scientists charged with determining the health risks posed by chemicals.

The Pentagon, the Energy Department, NASA and other agencies — all of which could be severely affected by EPA risk findings — are being allowed to participate "at almost every step in the assessment process," said the GAO.

Those agencies, their private contractors and manufacturers of the chemicals face restrictions and major cleanup requirements, depending on the EPA's scientific determinations.

"By law the EPA must protect our families from dangerous chemicals," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the Senate committee's chairman. "Instead, they're protecting the chemical companies."

The EPA's risk assessment process "never was perfect," Boxer said in an interview Monday. "But at least it put the scientists up front. Now the scientists are being shunted aside."

The GAO said many of the deliberations over risks posed by specific chemicals "occur in what amounts to a black box" of secrecy because the White House claims they are private executive branch deliberations.

Such secrecy "reduces the credibility of the ... assessments and hinders the EPA's ability to manage them," the GAO report said.

The White House said the GAO is wrong in suggesting that the EPA has lost control in assessing the health risks posed by toxic chemicals.

"Only EPA has the authority to finalize an EPA assessment," Kevin F. Neyland, deputy administrator of the White House budget office's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote in response to the GAO. He called the interagency process "a dialogue that helps to ensure the quality" of the reviews.

One EPA scientist with extensive knowledge of the changes in the agency's risk assessment policies ridiculed the claim that the EPA still has the final say.

"Unless there is concurrence by other agencies, ... things don't go forward. It means we stop what we are doing," said the scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of endangering his career.

"The (EPA) scientists feel as if they have lost complete control of the process, that it's been taken over by the White House and that they're calling the shots," the scientist said.

The GAO investigation focused on the EPA's computerized database, known as IRIS — the Integrated Risk Information System. It contains data on the human health effects of exposure to some 540 toxic chemicals in the environment. New chemicals are being proposed constantly for inclusion under a complicated assessment process that can take five years or more.

After years of stops and starts, the GAO said, the EPA has yet to determine carcinogen risks for a number of major chemicals such as:

- Naphthalene, a chemical used in rocket fuel as well as in manufacturing commercial products such as mothballs, dyes and insecticides.

- Trichloroethylene, or TCE, a widely used industrial degreasing agent.

- Perchloroethylene, or "perc," a chemical used in dry cleaning, metal degreasing and making chemical products.

- Formaldehyde, a colorless, flammable gas used to making building materials.

Environmentalists say these chemicals have been widely found at military bases and Superfund sites and in soil, lakes, streams and groundwater.

The findings, after an 18-month investigation by the congressional watchdog agency, come at a time of growing criticism from members of Congress and health and environmental advocates over alleged political interference in the government's science activities.

Last week, a confidential survey by an advocacy group of EPA scientists showed more than half of the 1,600 respondents worried about political pressure in their work. 

U.S. Identifies Tainted Heparin in 11 Countries
By GARDINER HARRIS
The New York Times
Published: April 22, 2008

WASHINGTON — A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and severe reactions now associated with 81 deaths in the United States.

a Chinese official disputed the assertion that the contaminant found in the drug, heparin, caused any deaths and insisted that his country’s inspectors be allowed to inspect the American plant where the finished heparin vials were made. He said any future agreement to allow American inspections of Chinese firms should be reciprocal.

“We don’t have a strong evidence to show that it is heparin or its contaminant that caused the problem,” said the official, Ning Chen, second secretary at the Chinese Embassy.

Mr. Chen said that illnesses associated with contaminated heparin had occurred only in the United States, which he said suggested that the problem arose in this country.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, said that German regulators uncovered a cluster of illnesses among dialysis patients who took contaminated heparin. She said Chinese officials had conceded that heparin produced in their country contained a contaminant, though they say it was not connected to the illnesses.

“Heparin should not be contaminated, regardless of whether or not that contamination caused acute adverse events,” Dr. Woodcock said. “We are fairly confident based on the biological information that we have had that this contaminant is capable of triggering these adverse reactions.”

The dispute is a sign of growing tensions between China and the United States over the safety of Chinese imports. China has in recent years exported poisonous toothpaste, lead-painted toys, toxic pet food, tainted fish and now, contaminated medicine.

Bills to require far more aggressive inspections of Chinese products and companies are being proposed by members of Congress. Hearings are scheduled for Tuesday in the House and Thursday in the Senate.

China has lurched between defensiveness and cooperation on issues of product safety. Last year, it initially blocked the F.D.A. from investigating tainted pet food and accused foreign forces of exaggerating the issue. Then in July, China said that it had executed its former top food and drug regulator for taking bribes and promised reforms.

The F.D.A. sent a warning letter on Monday to Changzhou SPL, the Chinese plant identified as the source of contaminated heparin made by Baxter International in the United States. It warned that the plant used unclean tanks to make heparin, that it accepted raw materials from an unacceptable vendor and that it had no adequate way to remove impurities.

Heparin is made from the mucous membranes of the intestines of slaughtered pigs that, in China, are often cooked in unregulated family workshops. The contaminant, identified as oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, a cheaper substance, slipped through the usual testing and was recognized only after more sophisticated tests were used.

The F.D.A. has identified 12 Chinese companies that have supplied contaminated heparin to 11 countries — Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. Deborah Autor, director of compliance at the F.D.A.’s drug center, said the agency did not know the original source of all the contamination or the points in the supply chain at which it was added.

Officials have discovered heparin lots that included the cheap fake additive manufactured as early as early as 2006, although a spike in illnesses associated with contaminated heparin began in November and persisted through February, officials said.

Separately, the Government Accountability Office will release a report on Tuesday showing that the F.D.A. would need to spend at least $56 million more next year to begin full inspections of foreign plants. It would need to spend at least $15 million annually to inspect China’s drug plants every two years, which is the domestic standard.

Bush administration officials have acknowledged problems associated with poor inspection of overseas plants and have plans to improve the situation. But President Bush’s budget does not provide the F.D.A. with funds to hire more inspectors.

At its present inspection pace, the F.D.A. would need at least 27 years to inspect every foreign medical device plant that exports to the United States, 13 years to check every foreign drug plant and 1,900 years to examine every foreign food plant.  [Emphasis mine, profound evil theirs.]

Proposals circulating on Capitol Hill would increase the agency’s financing and charge domestic and foreign manufacturers fees to pay for inspections.

“Even the Bush administration seems to understand the potential peril that these foreign firms pose, but they offer only vague plans to address the problems and they refuse to spend more than a fraction of the money needed to protect the public,” said Representative John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who leads the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The F.D.A. has announced plans to open inspection offices in three Chinese cities, but the agency has yet to get permission from the Chinese government. Mr. Chen said any inspection agreement should be reciprocal. “Will the U.S. government accept the Chinese F.D.A. to set up in the United States?” he said.

Dr. Woodcock said the Chinese had agreed to test heparin lots before allowing them to be exported. But Dr. Moheb Nasr, director of the drug agency’s office of new drug quality assessment, said that the Chinese test might not be sensitive enough to identify the contaminant.

Dr. Woodcock assured patients, however, that all heparin supplies in the United States had been tested with the most sensitive assays and had been found to be uncontaminated.

Scientific Protein Laboratories and Changzhou SPL said the company regretted the agency’s decision to send a warning letter that, it said, did not reflect the company’s current safety practices. The company said it had no way of detecting a contaminant present in heparin supplies throughout China.

Baxter International, which bought heparin ingredients from SPL and sold the finished drug in the United States, said that its tests confirmed that the contaminant could cause illness. It disputed the F.D.A.’s analysis that its product was linked with 81 deaths, saying it had identified only 5 in which its product “may have contributed to the adverse outcome, though there is not yet enough medical data available to draw a firm conclusion that the reaction caused the death.”

Deaths linked to the drug may have been concentrated in the United States because American doctors may be more likely to use large, quickly infused amounts of the drug, said drug officials. Also, the F.D.A. may track serious side effects better than its counterparts abroad.

Environmental Defense Fund

Posted: 01-Dec-1994; Updated: 05-Oct-2007

If you are buying new dishes, there is no reason to run any risk at all. Dishes with lead-free glazes and decorations are being made today by many companies, and many more are moving in that direction. Also, many patterns are so well made that they meet the strict California standards.

Ask Before You Buy

Ask the store manager if the dishes you want are lead-free or have been tested for lead leaching. If the manager doesn't know, have her ask the manufacturer. Ask if the company can guarantee that it meets the California warning standards -- in other words, can it be sold in California without a warning?

This is particularly important if you are buying china you hope to use every day, or over a lifetime. If the china has not been tested for lead leaching by the company, there is no reason for you to take an unknown risk.

Note: you may be told that the china you've asked about is "legal," or "meets federal standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." This is not the same as meeting California standards. Federal standards are not as strict as California standards, and there's no reason not to take advantage of the most protective standard.

However, if you are considering tableware imported from China (and are not from California), the federal Food and Drug Administration has a helpful new information service. U.S. FDA and the Chinese government are working together to certify Chinese tableware manufacturers whose products meet U.S. federal lead standards. Consumers should look for stickers that show certification under this new program. To see examples of the stickers and learn more about this new labeling program, go to the Food and Drug Administration website.

Retailers and distributors should also look for these stickers on shipping materials to determine which of their products imported from China meet federal standards.

What Can You Be Sure Of?

Glass dishes have no glaze on them. Glass plates, cups, mugs, etc., without painted or decal-type decorations on their surface, are reliably lead-free. (NOTE: This is not true of leaded crystal, which is heavy and expensive and almost never used for ordinary plates, cups and mugs.)

Stoneware dishes -- which are fairly heavy and often have a low shine instead of a bright, full gloss like glazed china -- are normally coated with a material that contains no lead. Unless they have painted or decal-type decorations on the surface, stoneware pieces are almost as lead-free as glass.

Lead-free china -- which looks just like other china but is made with lead-free glazes and pigments -- is sold by some companies. Very low-lead china meets the strict California warning standards. The Shopper's Guide lists many brands and patterns that do so. Some national and regional retail chains now offer only china that meets the California standards for lead.

In many cases you can ask the manufacturers yourself about lead in their china. The companies listed below provided have phone numbers for information about lead levels in specific patterns.

• Annieglass - (888) 761-0050
• Corning - (800) 999-3436
• Dansk - (800) BY-DANSK
• Dudson Group (USA) - (919) 877-0200
• Homer Laughlin - (800) 452-4462
• Lenox - (800) 635-3669
• Mikasa - (866) MIKASA1
• Pfaltzgraff - (800) 999-2811
• Pickard - (847) 395-3800
• Portmeirion - (203) 729-8255
• Royal Doulton - (800) 682-4462
• Spode - (800) 257-7189
• Vietri - (800) 277-5933
• Villeroy & Boch - (800) 223-1762
• Waterford / Wedgwood - (800) 955-1550

11/15/2007

What’s on your child’s Christmas list this year? Many parents say with all the recent recalls of toys due to lead paint, they’ll be extra careful, and that’s exactly what one Utah family is hoping for.

They say their child is sick because of a lead exposure from a most unlikely source and now they’re speaking out so others won’t have to go through what they did.

We’re flooded with recalls about lead products on the market. But do you really know what all these warnings mean?

Jen and Joe McBride had no idea lead was in their home.

It never crossed their minds, even when their 16-month-old daughter Chloe started getting sick.

Jen says, “We noticed in the beginning she was having trouble going to the bathroom.”

She had severe constipation and because of the pain, Chloe became afraid to go to the bathroom.

“She would hold off going to the bathroom for days and she would cry,” says Jen.

Chloe’s pediatrician recommended the usuals: stool softeners and juices but nothing helped.

When she was nine months old, her doctor ordered a routine screening for lead. The results came back with a blood lead reading above normal.

Jacob Varghese, M.D. Chole’s Pediatrician says, “It was 15 when we checked it the first time. Less than 10 is considered normal.”

The family was referred to the local Health Department to see if the source of the lead could be detected.

Frank Carlsen is an environmental health scientist for the Weber-Morgan Health Department which covers the McBride’s city.

He searched the home from top to bottom, using a gun-like device called an XRF which can detect lead, even through layers of paint or brick.

Carlsen says, “We did the standard, wall ceilings, bed, bathrooms, front porch, which had decorative tiles, we checked that. “

He couldn’t find any trace of lead until…

“We zeroed in onto the dinner plates,” says Carlsen.

The gun detected positive traces of lead in the McBride’s dinner plates. It detected a level of 11. Anything above a 1 is considered unacceptable, according to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

After a thorough investigation, the Health Department says the plates were the only detectable source of lead they could find in the home.

Chloe didn’t even eat off the plates; after all she was only 9-months-old at the time. So how could she get lead poisoning from them?

“We asked our doctor and he said because I was breastfeeding and eating off the plates, we were passing it to her through my breast milk,” says Jen.

That’s what her doctor concluded. And he says it’s even possible Jen may have passed lead to Chloe while pregnant.

“It can pass through the placenta. It can go to the baby,” says Dr. Jacob.

The Health Department says things like heat or acidic foods can cause the lead to leach into food, even if the plate is intact.

The McBrides stopped using the dinnerware, and three months later, Chloe’s lead levels were normal. Which again confirms everyone’s suspicions that the plates were the source.

“We were mad,” Jen says, “We were mad. We purchased the plates that hurt our daughter. This was causing her pain.”

And now, even though her levels are normal, Jen and Joe know lead can cause issues that can pop up later in life, such as learning or behavior problems.

Sue Spence, a registered nurse with ‘Lead Safe Kids Program’ says Dr. Jacob, “The right amount to have in your body is zero. But children are particularly at risk because their nervous systems are developing.”

The plates were purchased 3 years ago, and aren’t for sale anymore. But the McBrides say they still want a recall so consumers can be alerted.

“We want the people to know who have them, they could be exposed to lead from eating every day,” says Jen.

Often there are no symptoms of elevated lead levels, so the best way to know if your child has an exposure is to get a blood test through your pediatrician.

By the way, the McBrides say they purchased their HomeTrend dishes through their local Wal-Mart.

ProQuad Protects Against Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chickenpox
February 28, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) -- A new study finds children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when they got a Merck combination vaccine instead of two separate shots.

The results prompted a federal advisory panel to back away from its preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.

In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate of seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, compared with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three other diseases.  

The lead researcher of the federally funded study said the risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every 2,000 doses of the combo vaccine.

The study focused on children who develop fevers and then go into convulsions. It's an occurrence that frightens parents but usually has no lingering consequences. There were no deaths in the new study.

by Nick Macfie and Guo Shipeng
Feb 28, 2008

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese-made dumplings which made 10 people sick in Japan were sabotaged, most probably in Japan, China's security and quality watchdogs said on Thursday.

No one has died from the poisoned food but the case has prompted frenetic media coverage in Japan following a series of health scares over Chinese products ranging from pet food and toys to toothpaste.

"Chinese police have come to the conclusion that it was not a food safety incident caused by pesticide residues but a special case of sabotage," Yu Xinmin, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security, told a news conference.

"After comprehensive, careful investigation and tests, we believe there is little chance that methamidophos (a pesticide) was put into dumplings in China," said Yu, deputy director of the ministry's criminal investigation bureau.

Japanese police have said that it was highly unlikely that the sabotage happened in Japan, citing the fact that methamidophos was strictly banned there and the packages of some of the problematic dumplings remained intact.

But Yu said Chinese tests showed that the pesticide could have seeped into the dumplings from outside the package, contrary to the results from similar tests by Japanese police, and suggested that the methamidophos could have been shipped into Japan from abroad.

Police questioned 55 people at the Chinese producer in the northern province of Hebei who might have been able to taint the dumplings but they were all cleared of suspicion, Yu said.

Japanese and Chinese investigators earlier said the plant was "very clean and well-managed", finding no harmful chemicals in samples and no abnormal operations.

No problems were detected either from the factory gate to Japanese ports, Yu said, adding that he was sorry Japanese police had not given his colleagues consistent cooperation and had released inconclusive investigation results to the media.

Yu said Chinese police would continue to work with their Japanese counterparts to find out the truth.

The poisoning is a delicate matter for Sino-Japanese ties, sensitive at the best of times over Japanese wartime atrocities in China.

China had taken "resolute" actions to investigate the incident in a responsible manner, Wei Chuanzhong, vice head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, told the same news conference.

"It's because we don't want an isolated incident to affect the overall interests of bilateral relations and hurt the friendship between the two peoples," Wei said.

"We might have become a bit hypersensitive after the dumpling incident...we should return to a rational and normal thinking and not be misled by mistaken information."

By MICHAEL MELIA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 5, 2008

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The first warning sign came when a sharp-eyed worker sorting pills noticed that the odd blue flecks dotting the finished drug capsules matched the paint on the factory doors.

After the flecks were spotted again on the capsules, a blood-pressure medication called Diltiazem, the plant began placing covers over drugs in carts in its manufacturing areas.

But the factory owner, Canadian drug maker Biovail Corp., never tried to find out whether past shipments of the drug were contaminated - or prevent future contamination, according to U.S. regulators.

Thirteen of the 20 best-selling drugs in the United States come from plants on this island. But an investigation by The Associated Press has found dozens of examples over four years of lapses in quality control in the Puerto Rican pharmaceutical industry, which churns out $35 billion of drugs each year, most of it for sale as part of the $300 billion market in the U.S.

An AP review of 100 pages of Food and Drug Administration reports shows even modern drug plants here under the watch of U.S. regulators have failed to keep laboratories sterile and have exported tainted pills.

"People would be shocked to find this whole variety of contamination," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the Washington watchdog group Public Citizen. "The common denominator of all these is there's really poor quality control."

FDA officials say the problems in Puerto Rico are proportionate with the large number of pharmaceutical plants here and generally no worse than those on the U.S. mainland.  

Consumer advocates say they demonstrate the regulatory agency does not sufficiently monitor the industry across Puerto Rico and in the mainland.

The FDA issued a warning letter to Wyeth in May 2006, after consumers reported finding machinery pins inside bottles of Effexor, a leading depression treatment, and the heartburn drug Protonix. The letter expressed concern that the plant was not "able to detect that the affected equipment was missing some of its parts." The Madison, N.J.-based company faulted mistakes by workers who packaged the drugs.

In another case cited in a June 2006 FDA inspection report, a plant owned by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries exported drugs - including the diabetes treatment Metformin - even though they were known to contain small amounts of metal particles. The company had also received at least six consumer complaints of dark residue inside bottles or foreign material embedded in tablets, according to the report.

Teva's quality-control unit said the presence of some metallic material was to be expected because the manufacturing equipment is made of metal, according to the report.

Teva recalled 21 different drugs as a result of the inspection, according to FDA officials, and the Israeli drugmaker announced two months later it was closing the plant, citing a restructuring.

Denise Bradley, a Teva spokeswoman, insisted the medicine from the now-closed plant was safe and effective despite the contamination.

The reports obtained by AP were produced by FDA inspections from 2003 to 2007 of 13 pharmaceutical plants - roughly half the total in this U.S. territory, a Caribbean island with one of the world's highest concentrations of drug makers.

Several are closing or downsizing as the expense of updating decades-old plants to meet regulations adds to struggles with rising energy costs and tightening tax breaks.

The FDA often hesitates to crack down at the first sign of problems because manufacturers can chalk them up to isolated mishaps, said John Scharmann, a former FDA administrator for the Denver district now associated with a watchdog group.

That appeared to be the case at the Biovail-owned factory in the San Juan suburb of Carolina where the sharp-eyed worker noticed the foreign specks of blue.

"Incident was considered an isolated event ... even when the employee reported having observed the same particles before," the report said.

David Elder, director of enforcement in FDA's regulatory affairs office, said pharmaceutical companies generally fix problems on their own and issue recalls if necessary once notified.

"They're making products that save or support lives, so it's not in their interest to make products that are unsafe or ineffective," he said. "I think they're good corporate citizens by and large and want to do right by their patients."

Four of the plants described in the reports closed or announced plans to do so after the discovery of significant quality-control problems, but none of them cited the discoveries as a reason for closing.

One of those four, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, produced tablets of the popular antidepressant Paxil CR that split apart, potentially causing patients to take incorrect dosages.

When the company would not recall all the affected pills, U.S. marshals raided the plant in March 2005 in the largest drug seizure in FDA history and also collected tablets of the diabetes treatment Avandamet after some were found not to have accurate doses of the active ingredient.

Some plants in Puerto Rico are three decades old, built when the territory's pharmaceutical industry took off thanks to tax incentives aimed at developing more high-tech manufacturing.

The industry here has faded somewhat. Companies have shed more than 3,000 jobs in the last 18 months and closed several plants for a variety of reasons, including the loss of federal tax breaks and cost-cutting.

Still, this island turns out some top-selling drugs on the U.S. market, including cholesterol drugs Lipitor and Zocor, the blood-thinner Plavix, anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen and the antidepressant Zoloft.

The FDA's San Juan office has 22 inspectors who devote about a quarter of their time to pharmaceutical plants. They typically visit the factories once every two years, more often if there are consumer complaints or the company has repeated infractions.

Factories confronted with violations often make extensive changes. The Biovail plant invested $5 million in equipment upgrades and addressed problems including errant metal particles from cleaning spatulas. A follow-up FDA inspection found no problems, said Gilbert Godin, executive vice president of the Ontario-based company.

Scharmann, a consulting editor for the watchdog publication Dickinson's FDA Review, said the FDA is concerned by anything that affects drug quality but considers the likelihood that the companies may file legal challenges to enforcement actions.

"There's a fairly broad latitude that is allowed," Scharmann said.

Elder contends inspections are rigorous.

"The folks doing this work aren't just regulators. That's our job, but we're also consumers of these products," he said. "It's personal to us to make sure these products are in compliance."

Chemicals Called Phthalates Under Attack From Some Environmental Groups
February 4, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) -- A new study concluded that baby shampoos, lotions and powders could expose infants to chemicals linked to possible reproductive problems.

The small study published in the journal Pediatrics said elevated levels of the chemicals were found in the urine of babies after the products were applied to them.

Chemicals called phthalates are under attack from some environmental groups. They aren't limited by the federal government, but the state of California and some countries have restricted their use.

Animal studies show the chemicals can cause reproductive birth defects, but human scientific evidence is lacking.  

The chief scientist for the Personal Care Products Council questioned the report. He said the chemicals could have come from diapers or other sources.

The government said there's no compelling evidence the chemicals pose a safety risk.

New York Times
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Published: January 29, 2008

The claim has the ring of a myth. But environmental scientists say it is real.

The reason is that hot water dissolves contaminants more quickly than cold water, and many pipes in homes contain lead that can leach into water. And lead can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in young children.

Lead is rarely found in source water, but can enter it through corroded plumbing. The Environmental Protection Agency says that older homes are more likely to have lead pipes and fixtures, but that even newer plumbing advertised as “lead-free” can still contain as much as 8 percent lead. A study published in The Journal of Environmental Health in 2002 found that tap water represented 14 to 20 percent of total lead exposure.

Scientists emphasize that the risk is small. But to minimize it, the E.P.A. says cold tap water should always be used for preparing baby formula, cooking and drinking. It also warns that boiling water does not remove lead but can actually increase its concentration. More information is at www.epa.gov/lead or (800) 424-5323 (LEAD).

THE BOTTOM LINE

Hot water from the tap should never be used for cooking or drinking.

January 31, 2008

BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese export safety authorities said Thursday they were investigating a company that made insecticide-tainted dumplings that sickened 10 people in Japan.

The frozen dumplings made by Tianyang Food Processing were contaminated with traces of an organic phosphorus insecticide called methamidophos, which caused severe abdominal pains, vomiting and diarrhea, Japanese officials said.

China's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which oversees export safety, said it had heard the news and was "paying great attention to it."

"We have quickly gotten in touch with the Japanese side to get a detailed understanding of the situation," the AQSIQ said in a statement posted on its Web site. "We have already started an investigation and will release the results in a timely manner."

Telephone calls to Tianyang and its parent company, Hebei Foodstuffs Import & Export Group, were not answered on Thursday.

The reputation of China's exports have suffered the past year after a number of potentially deadly chemicals were found in goods ranging from toothpaste to toys to a pet food ingredient.

It declared a four-month quality and safety improvement campaign which ended in December a success.

Japanese health officials said they suspended imports of all products from Tianyang and were conducting a nationwide survey of any additional dumplings-related health problems.

Japan's Health Ministry has also ordered the dumplings' importer and distributor, JT Foods Co. Ltd. - an affiliate of Japan's largest tobacco company - to recall the tainted dumplings. JT Foods had distributed 13 tons of dumplings each in the prefectures (states) of Chiba and Hyogo, the ministry said.

"I'm afraid that there was a rather loose safety awareness on the Chinese side," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said at a regular news conference Thursday. "Now the problems have occurred, we urge China to closely investigate what exactly is going on."

Three people in Hyogo and seven in Chiba near Tokyo were sickened, some of the seriously including a 5-year-old girl who regained consciousness after falling into a coma, the ministry said.

Traces of methamidophos were found in the dumplings, their containers and the patients' vomit, it said.

Japan has in recent months been hit with its own slew of domestic food safety scandals involving recycled red bean filling, mislabeled meat and the use of out-of-date milk, cream and eggs in a popular brand of cream puffs.

In 2000, Snow Brand Milk Products Co. shipped old milk and sickened more than 14,000 people, the country's worst-ever outbreak of food poisoning.