Some Venetian mini-blinds are made with PVC plastic which has been stabilized with lead. Over an unspecified period of time, there is some deterioration in the material which produces a lead-containing dust on the slats of the blind. It is not yet clear which blinds contain lead but they are said to be the inexpensive ones made in developing countries. Whether all such blinds contain similar amounts of lead has not been specified.
The real risk of these blinds in the house has not been established. Apparently, only one case of lead poisoning has been attributed to the blinds - a case of a young child who repeatedly sucked or chewed on the blind.
Lead-containing blinds should be considered another potential source of lead in the household. As such, caution and concern are warranted. Until more information is available, it is recommended that:
1) New blinds (that are not releasing dust) do not need to be removed.
2) Older blinds that are releasing dust should be removed and stored in a sealed plastic bag until it can be determined whether or not they contain significant amounts of lead.
3) Once blinds are removed, the window area and floor should be carefully vacuumed.
4) Following vacuuming, hard-surface areas should be wiped with a damp cloth and carpeting cleaned.
5) Blood lead concentrations should be measured in children under the age of 6 years; this is the only method that reliably identifies children with excess body burdens of lead.
6) If blood lead concentrations exceed 0.5 micromol/L, some type of intervention is indicated; the specific form of that intervention will depend on the exact blood lead concentration as well as other factors.
Michael A. McGuigan, MD, MBA
Head of Poison Control
Hospital for Sick Children
E-mail: mcguigan@sickkids.on.ca
QUESTION:
One of your recommendations is that blood lead concentrations should be measured in children under the age of 6 years. Should this be done on all children who have these blinds in their room? And if so, should we be calling all parents to bring their children in to the office to have these levels done? Or should this testing be restricted to those kids who have been chewing or putting their hands on the blinds?
ANSWER:
I am less concerned with older children but I wouldn't discourage parents of older children from requesting a lead level; if fact, if the children have "grown up" with those types of blinds in their rooms, they should be tested. At the moment, there are not enough data to support wide-spread testing. A middle-ground approach might be to test those kids who have high exposure - chewing, putting hands on blinds, blinds over the bed, play area under the blinds, etc. If this population has high blood lead levels, then it would be appropriate to ask all parents with these blinds to bring their kids in for testing.
Michael A. McGuigan, MD, MBA