Thank you, Associated Press. As a former reporter, it always thrills me to find journalists hot on the trail of important stories. This time? It's about lunch boxes. They're unsafe. And the government doesn't want you to know. Or didn't, that is, until the AP came along and opened an Incredible Hulk lunch box on their sorry excuses for public servants.
It turns out that one in five vinyl lunch boxes contained lead in levels high enough to be considered unsafe -- while a few more contained 10 times as much. The Consumer Safety Products Commission's response? Everything's fine. Not so fast.
MotherTalkers pointed out the AP article that says the CSPC had two ways of testing: One test showed high levels of lead in the vinyl itself while another showed lower levels of lead in a "swipe test" of the vinyl. Because most food is wrapped, the agency decided to go with the swipe test results -- meaning too many kids are still walking around with lead-tainted lunch boxes.
People, we're talking about lead. We're talking about kids. We realize you didn't get that coveted NASA gig, but still -- you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know the two don't mix, especially when it comes to food containers! Even freaking Wal-Mart banned the lunch boxes before the Consumer Safety Products Commission deemed them unsafe. That's pretty sad.
