Firms Sued Over Lead in Brass Keys
Concerned about the lead content of brass keys, California’s attorney general on Tuesday sued 13 key and lock companies for not warning consumers.
And Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said that what he really wants is not a warning, but a change of metals.
“It turns out there are very significant exposures that can be dangerous, particularly to small children,” Lockyer said. “And, you know . . . I see small kids with keys in their mouths at the grocery store all the time.”
Keys--particularly brass ones--are about 2% lead. Laboratory tests with three dozen keys found that if people handled their keys twice a day, the amount of lead that rubbed off on their fingers was an average of 19 times the state’s “no-risk” level.
Both new and old keys rounded up “from our pockets and our drawers” were tested by an East Coast lab, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Susan Durbin. The highest level found was 80 times the 0.5 micrograms-per-day limit for lead established by Proposition 65, the 1986 anti-toxins initiative.
Although the levels are low compared to those in lead-based paint, Lockyer said they are nonetheless troubling because lead can damage a child’s brain and nervous system.
Lockyer said he does not want to alarm people and hopes the key manufacturers will settle the suit quickly by agreeing to stop using lead. In the meantime, he recommends that consumers use plastic or rubber key shields to limit their contact with keys; wash their hands frequently; not store keys with gum or candy in purses or pockets; and keep keys out of the reach of children.
Companies cited in the suit include some household words: Kwikset Corp., Schlage Lock Co. and Master Lock Co. The manufacturers could not be reached for comment.
Lead in keys makes them softer and easier to cut and grind. However, keys can be made without lead, and most silver-color keys--such as car keys, made of steel--contain only trace amounts of lead.
Though the suit calls only for warning labels on keys and lock sets that come with their own keys, Durbin said the state hopes to use potential penalties as leverage to get the companies to make lead-free keys.
The issue came to Lockyer’s attention after Eureka environmental attorney Bill Verick filed suit against the 13 companies in San Francisco Superior Court on Aug. 18. His unfair competition suit alleged that the absence of warnings was illegal under Proposition 65.
Since Lockyer was sworn in this year, the attorney general’s office has become more involved in consumer issues. In June, a similar suit against the makers of Maalox caused the company to agree to significantly reduce lead levels in the antacid.
Lockyer also brokered a settlement with grocery stores aimed at keeping food costs down, launched a Web site where people can check the financial status of charities, and used $4.4 million from an anti-trust case to found a consumer research center at UC Berkeley.
