The protectionists are at it again.  Another one of those trade barriers interrupting the free flow of goods.  Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels, cars is recalling 967,000 toys because they are covered in lead paint.  The toys are made in China.  Wal-Mart, Target and Toys'R'Us sell them.

Let's examine this silly lead paint product standard a bit.  Kellco Laboratories has this to say:

Children run the greatest risk of being lead poisoned because lead is easily incorporated into their growing bodies, where it disrupts the normal growth pattern of cells. Accumulation of smaller amounts of lead in a child's body may also result in damage that does not become visible until the child is old enough to express learning disabilities.  Young children are most often the victims of lead paint poisoning, since they put almost anything into their mouths, chewing on wood trim, window sills and other potential lead-painted surfaces.

Those darned lawyers prosecuting lead paint cases also have some information:

 Even at that low exposure, experts believe children suffer permanent neurological damage, decreased intelligence, short-term memory loss and have increased behavior problems.

In adults, lead can increase blood pressure and cause fertility problems, nerve disorders, muscle and joint pain, irritability, and memory or concentration problems. It takes a significantly greater level of exposure to lead for adults than it does for children to sustain adverse health effects.

If a woman had been exposed to enough lead as a child, pregnancy can cause the lead to be released from her bones, where it is stored, and easily transferred to the fetus.

A little bit of trivia puts the recall number into perspective.  967,000 is the entire foreign born population of New Jersey in 1990.  The number is greater than the population of San Jose, California.

Wal-Mart, Always Low Prices. This is the "China Price."

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