(PCM) Bright colored handbags may be hot this summer, but no trend is worth exposing yourself to unsafe levels of toxic metal! Don’t let your passion for fashion take precedence over your health!
Researchers from the Center for Environmental Health tested for lead contamination in 300 purses and wallets from 21 “national online and brick-and-mortar retailers” located in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Amazon.com, Forever 21, and Neiman Marcus. They discovered that 43 purses and wallets exceeded the lead limit California set for purses in 2010: 300 parts per million (ppm). And it’s not just the cheap stuff; upscale brands were highly contaminated, too: A $200 Tory Burch wallet purchased from Neiman Marcus had 58,700 ppm lead, 195 times higher than the set standard, according to Rodale.
“We usually see this problem in faux leather, vinyl, and different kinds of plastics that have bright colors,” says Center for Environmental Health (CEH) Communications Director Charles Margulis. Unfortunately, a lot of these bags are also labeled “vegan” or “ecofriendly,” implying that they’re better than animal leather, which in reality, leather doesn’t contain nearly as much lead.
There is no safe level of lead exposure. It impairs neurological development in children, and builds up in the bones and fatty tissue of adults, leading to Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney failure, and possibly Lou Gherig’s disease.
Retailers that tested positive for lead above the 300-ppm limit:
– 5-7-9
– Rainbow
– BCBGMAXAZRIA
– Big Buddha
– Forever 21
– Guess
– House of Harlow 1960
– Tory Burch
– Lodis
– Ralph Lauren
– Nine West
Stick to real leather bags and wallets, avoid bright hues, and shop smart!