Back in 2007, MSNBC reported on testing done by ConsumerLabs.com that popular brands of women's and children's vitamins were found to contain lead.

(msnbc.msn.com/id/16655168/wid/11915773?GT1=8921) The Food and Drug Administration found this concerning, and did its own study on 324 brands of women's and children's vitamins, including prenatals.

In early 2007, FDA became aware of reports of elevated lead levels in certain vitamins, which became an issue of concern to FDA, Congress, and the public. This survey was conducted to determine the content of lead (Pb) in vitamins labeled for women and children.

The report is quite lengthy, but the stunning bottom line is that, out of 324 brands tested, every one of them was found to contain lead. The complete list of brands tested can be found at: cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/pbvitami.html

Since the vast majority of all vitamins available in this country are produced by the same five pharmaceutical companies, the odds are high that if one brand is contaminated, so are most of the rest.

Why is this a problem? Lead is a heavy metal that builds up in our systems. While the doses in these vitamins may be small, over time they can create significant health problems.

There is an extensive article on the dangers of lead poisoning in Wikipedia. Here are the highlights:

Lead may cause irreversible neurological damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects, and reproductive toxicity. These dangers have long been known, though the modern understanding of their full extent and the small amount of lead necessary to produce them is relatively recent; blood lead levels once considered safe are now considered hazardous, with no known threshold. Reducing these hazards requires both individual actions and public policy regulations.

The symptoms of chronic lead poisoning include neurological problems, nausea, abdominal pain, irritability, insomnia, metal taste in oral cavity, excess lethargy or hyperactivity, chest pain, headache and, in extreme cases, seizure and coma. There are also associated gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, poor appetite, weight loss. Other associated effects are anemia, kidney problems, and reproductive problems.

Lead poisoning can also be fatal.

Lead has no known physiologically relevant role in the body.

A direct link between early lead exposure and extreme learning disability has been confirmed by multiple researchers and child advocacy groups.

Columbia University followed 12,000 children who had been exposed to high levels of lead in the womb were more than twice as likely to go on to develop schizophrenia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning

Why do these vitamins contain lead?

Vitamin manufacturers are not required to test for lead. They are not required to test for any contaminants. They are provided raw materials from China (please see my last article, The Danger of Chinese Imports). They create products from these contaminated raw materials and pass them on to consumers in ignorance.

Where does the lead come from?

Water contaminated with lead is frequently used in Chinese processing plants. But even more likely is the common use of ball mills. These machines use metal balls to crush materials before shipment. One American natural vitamin manufacturer that tests for lead discovered that the contamination of their raw materials was the result of the use of lead balls. Because this company tests all raw materials, they caught the lead-laced herb and rejected the shipment. This is not required by our government, so virtually no one else in the industry invests money in this type of quality control testing.

Homeowners selling a house that was built before 1978 are required to warn buyers that there MAY be lead-based paint somewhere on the house. It is tragic that the pharmaceutical giants are allowed to make substantial profits on lead-laced products specifically designed for human consumption.