To protect area children from lead poisoning, the Vanderburgh County Health Department has upcoming lead testing informational sessions at several events.
This includes the Vanderburgh County Fair. They’ll be there July 27 from 2:30 pm to 6 pm to present information about lead testing in children and to help make appointments for lead testing. More testing locations and dates below.
Vanderburgh County Administrator Joe Gries said lead can come from the soil old paint or lead-tainted products.
He said children ages 1 to 7 are most at risk of lead exposure because they’re still developing.
“Their brains are still developing their motor skills, their physical abilities, even their emotional well-being is being developed, and lead can affect all of those things.”
He said if a test reveals elevated lead levels, the health department would try to find and remove the source of the lead and then help reduce lead levels through diet counseling and education.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of excess lead in the blood are irreversible, and tend to impact children in “poorer areas.” There is no safe blood lead level in adults or children, but the action level for children is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter.
The health department also released a recall on Cupkins stainless steel cups due to unsafe lead levels.
These cups were available on Amazon. They came in fun colors and were $20 for a set of two. They’re double walled stainless steel.
Over the weekend the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall warning and it’s being amplified by the Vanderburgh County Health Department.
Gries says about 350,000 units are being recalled.
“These are cups that apparently contain levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban. As we all know, lead is toxic if ingested by young children. And so they've issued this recall.”
Parents are warned to immediately take the cups away from the children.
The company itself urged families to stop using cups purchased between 2020 and February 19 2023.
Owners can get a refund online. You can learn more about the recall Here.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission recall page.
Other Lead testing informational events
The Vanderburgh County Health Department will be at the National Night Out event at the CK Newsome Center on August 1, from 6 pm to 8:30pm, the Baptist Town Emancipation Festival at Lincoln School Playground August 5, from 11am to 6pm, and on the same day, from 2pm to 4pm the Marshallese Health Fair at CK Newsome Center.
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