LEAD Action News
LEAD Action News Volume 17 Number 2, November 2016, ISSN 1324-6011
The newsletter of The LEAD (Lead Education and Abatement Design) Group Inc.
PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia Ph: (02) 9716 0014,
Email www.lead.org.au/cu.html Web: www.lead.org.au/; www.leadsafeworld.com.

Editorial Team: Elizabeth O’Brien Graphics/Web-Publishing: Rekha Vasudev, Arin Bala & Rocky Huang
Web Developer: Malveek Kaur Dhaliwal

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Editorial

By Elizabeth O'Brien, BSc, Grad Dip Health Edn, President, The LEAD Group Inc, Australia

This issue of LEAD Action News starts and ends with news of the fourth WHO International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action (ILPPWA) held during the last full Sunday to Saturday week in October. At the end of this issue, you’ll find a full listing of all the events carried out this year, copied from the World Health Organisation’s website before they take it down to put up next year’s ILPPWA events. The fifth Lead Week of Action will be held from Sunday 22nd to Saturday 28th October 2017.

But you don’t have to wait til 2017 – you can start taking action on lead-safety today by:

  1. Ordering a Lead Safe World Poster made from any Volcano Art Prize (VAP) entry, at leadsafeworld.com/shop and give it to any place in your community where lead-safety messages are needed.
  2. Entering your own artwork, photo or short film in VAP 2017 – open now at volcanoartprize.com/submitentry/
  3. Buying a LEAD Group Kit, test your home, childcare centre, workplace, etc and let others know that you have followed any recommendations received with the kit-results to make your place lead-safe/heavy metal-safe.
  4. Planning how you personally (and your friends and family overseas too) can encourage your council and other government agencies, to mark the fifth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action in 2017.
  5. Letting The LEAD Group know what steps you’ve taken so we can report them in LEAD Action News.

First up in this issue, we have the Judge’s pick and a photo essay of our most excellent
Volcano Art Prize Awards yet! Again I thank Toby Griffin of Pictureproducts for being the major

Volcano Art Prize (VAP) sponsor for the 5th year in a row, as well as our excellent Art Judge for VAP 2016 – Kari McKern, the host Alice Ju (Director of Creative Einstein), MC Roger Kilburn (Secretary of The LEAD Group) and event organiser volunteers Rekha Vasudev and Arin Bala.

Next up is first the bad news: we reprint an IPEN report on “Paint with Dangerous Lead Levels Widely Sold in All Developing Regions” – which was kindly translated by our Spanish and French translator volunteer Orlando Aguirre-Lopez – and then the good news: Vinco Hardware who import lead-free stainless steel tapware into Australia, have become the latest Lead Safe World Partner. See Vinco’s solution for lowering blood lead levels at http://www.leadsafeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Vinco-stainless-steel-tapware-LEAD-Group-flyer-final-20161129.pdf and contact Vinco via http://vinco.com.au/contact/ or phone (02) 9517 4800 to find your closest retailer!

Vinco Hardware contacted The LEAD Group after they were interviewed along with Macquarie University Doctoral Student Paul Harvey and The LEAD Group’s then-President Professor Mark Taylor by 9News in Sydney and Perth about the journal article by Paul Harvey, Heather Handley and Mark Taylor, published in November 2016 at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935116303280 - called Widespread copper and lead contamination of household drinking water, New South Wales, Australia.

Another supplier of lead-free plumbing products, this time PVC pipes and fittings made with lead-free stabilisers by Lareter in Italy for the European market, made contact via the Letter to the Editor. And my favourite marmalade-supplier (I eat it daily for the pectin for lead detox) has kindly supplied some pectin know-how in “A jam-maker’s view of pectin”!

Volcano Art Prize (VAP) sponsor for the 5th year in a row, as well as our excellent Art Judge for VAP 2016 – Kari McKern, the host Alice Ju (Director of Creative Einstein), MC Roger Kilburn (Secretary of The LEAD Group) and event organiser volunteers Rekha Vasudev and Arin Bala.

Next up is first the bad news: we reprint an IPEN report on “Paint with Dangerous Lead Levels Widely Sold in All Developing Regions” – which was kindly translated by our Spanish and French translator volunteer Orlando Aguirre-Lopez – and then the good news: Vinco Hardware who import lead-free stainless steel tapware into Australia, have become the latest Lead Safe World Partner. See Vinco’s solution for lowering blood lead levels at http://www.leadsafeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Vinco-stainless-steel-tapware-LEAD-Group-flyer-final-20161129.pdf and contact Vinco via http://vinco.com.au/contact/ or phone (02) 9517 4800 to find your closest retailer!

Vinco Hardware contacted The LEAD Group after they were interviewed along with Macquarie University Doctoral Student Paul Harvey and The LEAD Group’s then-President Professor Mark Taylor by 9News in Sydney and Perth about the journal article by Paul Harvey, Heather Handley and Mark Taylor, published in November 2016 at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935116303280 - called Widespread copper and lead contamination of household drinking water, New South Wales, Australia.

Another supplier of lead-free plumbing products, this time PVC pipes and fittings made with lead-free stabilisers by Lareter in Italy for the European market, made contact via the Letter to the Editor. And my favourite marmalade-supplier (I eat it daily for the pectin for lead detox) has kindly supplied some pectin know-how in “A jam-maker’s view of pectin”!

2016 VAP Entry. Photographer: Elizabeth O’Brien. Title: A perfect lead detox organic breakfast, Lead-safety Message: Organic food and especially marmalade (which contains pectin), yoghurt, wholegrain foods and green tea are all known for their ability to detox lead from the body. URL: https://volcanoartprize.com/portfolio-item/a-perfect-lead-detox-organic-breakfast/

In our major article for this issue, we delve into the history of the silent epidemic of lead poisoning with a follow-up article from a long-term LEAD Group contact in the US who presents more compelling evidence on stuttering as a symptom of lead poisoning. The fantastically well-researched article begins by describing the lead poisoning and stuttering of King George and is thus very timely for those of us watching Season 1 of the highly-acclaimed “The Crown” on Netflix, about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, daughter of King George.

I’ve re-edited a 2010 fact sheet on another little-known set of symptoms of lead exposure: “How does lead exposure affect our eyes?” – and Orlando has masterfully translated the 2016 version into Spanish.

On the topic of old things being revised and reprinted, you’ll find the full listing of links to the 2016 NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) lead fact sheets (revised by Michelle Calvert, Vice-President, The LEAD Group), along with the NSW EPA 1997-9 original versions (co-written by EPA and The LEAD Group), in “Info Pack Lead fact sheet series of publications by NSW EPA”. Otherwise grant-less since the Coalition won power at the 2013 federal Australian election, the small grant provided to Michelle for this revision by NSW EPA has since been supplemented for staff wages by donations from PARE Medical, Vinco Hardware and several individuals. Thanks to these generous donors and volunteer staff, the free lead information and referral service of The LEAD Group (called Global Lead Advice and Support Service or GLASS when we have government grants) continues to run. As the Lead Advisor of GLASS, I recently received the following enquiry:

Q: Is there a law against setting up a preschool next door to a petrol station? A: only if the Council sets that policy. Ask for their Environmental Report.

This enquiry inspired me to create (and include in this issue): Info Pack - Managing lead hazards in childcare centres and schools, and I continually update my Info Pack for tenants due to a regular stream of enquiries. So you’ll find “Info Pack - Renting and Lead - What residential landlords and agents should know” also in this issue.

Once more, I invite you to take action today, in readiness for the WHO International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action (ILPPWA) 2017, to be held during the last full Sunday to Saturday week in October. Be inspired by our final article – the list of ILPPWA 2016 events, and aim to organise or take part or motivate someone in another country to organise or take part in an ILPPWA 2017 event.

Together we can make the world lead-safe!

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