Getting the Lead Out

Many California stores soon will be carrying a dietary calcium supplement that is virtually lead-free--though it’s a good bet that most of the millions who are taking calcium pills don’t know they are consuming lead. Lead is a toxin that can cause health problems for pregnant women, fetuses, children and women who take calcium to mitigate the risk of osteoporosis. Given the dangers, all calcium supplements should be lead-free.

Lead accumulates in animal bones, oyster shells and limestone, the three major sources for calcium supplements. In most cases, consumers do not have any idea how much lead, if any, they are ingesting and, more to the point, they have no way of knowing whether the amount exceeds the state-mandated limit of 0.5 micrograms per day.

Proposition 65, passed by voters in 1986, requires manufacturers to inform consumers when their products contain toxins that exceed state standards. To date, many calcium supplement manufacturers have not complied, and the attorney general’s office, which in years past moved aggressively to require Proposition 65 warnings by makers of faucets and dishware that contain lead, currently says it does not have the resources to regulate the calcium makers.

But the Carson-based Leiner Health Products Group, the largest maker of dietary calcium supplements, has wisely seen a market opportunity in voluntary compliance. Leiner, which markets Your Life brand supplements, has announced it will reduce the amount of lead in its calcium tablets by Saturday. Three other antacid or supplement products--TUMS, Children’s Mylanta and Posture-D--have also gotten the lead out.

Pressure from environmental and medical groups prompted Leiner to act. That same pressure should now prompt more enforcement by Sacramento and action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to set a national standard on lead in calcium products.