Getting the Lead Out: Consumers Question Books Made in China

It was probably inevitable. Over the past several months, there have been ongoing reports about recalls of Chinese-made products due to excess levels of lead. In August, Mattel recalled over 10 million Chinese-made toys due to lead paint as well as tiny magnets that could be swallowed by children, as reported by the Associated Press. In October, Antioch Publishing announced the recall of seven non-book products, mostly bookmarks, due to excess lead levels. In early November, approximately 175,000 "Curious George Plush Dolls" and more than 405,000 Chinese-made products -- mostly toy cars -- were recalled, also due to lead, AP noted.

It isn't surprising then that a number of booksellers have reported customers are raising questions about anything made in China, including children's books.

At Leaves of Grass in Willits, California, Rani Saijo said that, over the course of three weeks, three customers had questions about whether the ink used in Chinese-made books had lead in it. "It seems like it's in all the newspapers these days," Saijo said. "They didn't want to buy books from China and wanted to buy books printed in the USA. That was a challenge." She added: "My feeling is that we're going to see it more and more" as parents err on the side of caution and steer away from products produce in China.

Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, Massachusetts, said there are other things she's worried about when it comes to children's books and sidelines. "I'm not aware of lead content in the inks -- I'm less concerned about that than a plastic bit that can come off.... Ink on a board book has a low priority."

Neil Strandberg of the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado, told BTW via e-mail that on a recent Friday a group of three customers entered the children's section and then "came to one of the employees and expressed their concerns" over the fact that many of the tots books, board books, baby cloth books, and stuffies were manufactured in China."

The customers' questions raised concerns for Strandberg, who said he didn't enjoy the prospect that, at this hour in November, consumers were shying away from Chinese manufactured children's books, "unless they're right to do so," he added. "I'd like to know that, too." To that point, Strandberg queried, "Is there one stop in the publishing world to go and discover if book ink in China certainly does, or certainly does not, contain lead?"

The short answer to that question, unfortunately, is no. However, an informal survey of several publishers about printing methods and safety regulations indicates that fear of lead in book ink may be much ado about nothing. Still, that answer doesn't help a bookseller who has to deal with a customer who reads about recall after recall and decides to question any product with a "Made in China" label. "How do we as a retailer respond to customers who have concerns about the safety of our products?" Strandberg said.

Publishers responding to BTW all noted that product safety was a high priority and said they made sure all their products met all safety guidelines. "I know publishers are concerned and looking into the matter," said Michelle Buyak, marketing director for the Children's Booksellers Council, "and are being sure that any books being printed are safe. Our first customers are the kids."

Virginia Anson Turturro, vice president/director of manufacturing for Penguin Young Readers Group, told BTW via e-mail: "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Society for Testing & Materials [ASTM, a voluntary safety code] set safety standards for children's consumer products in the United States.... Before producing a book containing toy elements or packaging a toy, novelty, or art materials with a book we publish, PGI undertakes a risk evaluation to consider such things as possible choking hazards and toxicity. We and our suppliers also engage independent, accredited safety testing laboratories to test these products to the applicable standards. PGI's standards meet and often exceed the applicable U.S. laws and safety standards for children's products."

"Specifically regarding your concern about lead," Turturro continued, "if toys are sold with any of our products they must comply with ASTM F-963 ... which incorporates all mandatory U.S. toy safety requirements, including but not limited to lead in paint requirements ... and hazardous substances and articles requirements."

In regards to printed material, Anson reported, "Non-scrapeable printing ink that becomes part of the substrate of book pages is not lead-restricted by U.S. law because it is not considered hazardous. In any event, PGI's vendors in the U.S. and China advise that only soy or other lead-restricted printing inks are used in children's books manufactured for PGI."

Tracy van Straaten, vice president of publicity, Children's Book Publishing, for Scholastic Inc., told BTW via e-mail, "At Scholastic, the safety and well-being of children is of the utmost concern to us.... For books, Scholastic requires documented confirmation from our printers that they contain only non-toxic inks and coating that meet U.S. ASTM safety standards. We take this precaution despite the fact that books are exempt from government regulated toy safety testing."

Jennifer Levine, director of publicity for Disney Publishing Worldwide, explained that Disney requires all licensed producers of its products to comply with all "applicable product safety laws and standards and to test their products to ensure their compliance. We test all of our own products (non-licensed) using a third-party vendor to ensure that they comply with all applicable laws. The product cannot be shipped until tests results are submitted to the company's product integrity office."

"Random House Children's Books treats all matters regarding child safety in relation to our books with the utmost concern and we regularly administer testing to ensure that our books meet the required federal regulations for toy safety," said a statement provided by Judith Haut, the company's senior vice president, communications and marketing. "All Random House Children's Books titles that include crayons and watercolor paints are produced in strict accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials standards and regulations (U.S.), which include testing for toxicity and choking hazards. Random House Children's Books puts warning labels on our products where applicable."

At Charlesbridge Publishing, Donna Spurlock noted, "We print most of our books in China, Singapore, and Korea, and, while we do not conduct testing ourselves, have documentation of safety testing of ink and materials and are able to produce this documentation upon request."

At Kane/Miller Book Publishers, Kira Lynn reported that "our printer is getting us individual reports for all of the materials used in our recent printing (ink and paper) for certification of safety."

Simon & Schuster indicated that all of its "products comply with all applicable safety requirements and are safety tested as necessary to ensure such compliance."

Michael Levin, CEO of Innovative Kids, said his company is a little different from other publishers. "Our product is very toy-like," he told BTW. "So we try to follow expectations set up by the toy industry. We spend a disproportionate amount of time on safety testing." He explained that the toy industry follows ASTM. "I don't know any quality toy manufacturer that doesn't follow these guidelines-it deals with choking hazards, heavy metal component."

Levin said that Innovative Kids puts every one of its products through a stringent safety process, which is not only good for the kids, but good for business, too. "Giant recalls are not good for anyone," he said. "And in terms of lead, that's a very inexpensive part of the test."

Leaves of Grass' Saijo said that she appreciated the fact that Antioch Publishing decided to test its imported products for lead after hearing about the many recalls of Chinese-made products. (A list of Antioch's recalled products is available on its website, www.antioch.com.)

Booksellers with questions about a specific book or sideline should contact the publisher or manufacturer directly. More information about recalls is available from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the websites of the Toy Industry Association, toyassociation.org and www.toyinfo.org. --David Grogan