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more photosU.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., left, listens as Kara Burkhart, of Redmond, speaks at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday about pending product safety reform legislation. At far left is a picture of Burkhart’s son Colton, who suffered lead poisoning at age 4 after ingesting a small medallion with a lead content of 39 percent.
Linda Spillers / For The Bulletin
Redmond mom lobbies in D.C. for toy safety
She sprang to action after her son suffered lead poisoning from a toy
By Keith Chu / The Bulletin
Published: February 08. 2008 4:00AM PSTWASHINGTON — Kara Burkhart’s sons no longer get toys for Christmas.
Colton, 8, and Cody, 10, no longer get toys at all now, not since Colton swallowed a toy necklace and nearly died of lead poisoning.
“I don’t buy toys,” said Burkhart, of Redmond. “They get books; they get clothes.”
Burkhart flew to Washington, D.C., this week to push for a bill that creates more rigid product safety rules, outlaws the use of lead in products intended for children, requires mandatory testing of children’s products, increases funding for the government agency that oversees product safety and increases fines for companies that sell unsafe products.
To do that, Burkhart, an educational assistant at John Tuck Elementary School in Redmond, moonlighted Thursday as a lobbyist. She met with two senators and congressional staffers and spoke at a press conference with other parents whose children were hurt by dangerous toys.
With a row of television cameras pointed at her in a conference room at the Capitol, Burkhart told Colton’s story:
In 2003, when Colton was 4, he came down with severe cramps, diarrhea and vomiting over the July Fourth weekend. Burkhart assumed he had the flu.
But the symptoms never went away.
“We realized that he didn’t have the flu,” Burkhart said.
More than a week later, on their second doctor’s visit, an X-ray found a black necklace and small gray medallion in his stomach. Burkhart and her husband, Todd, had purchased the trinket for a quarter at a Central Oregon restaurant, which she declined to name.
Colton’s experience
The Burkharts thought the problem was solved after doctors at St. Charles Bend removed the medallion. But three days later, when Colton bit his cheek and a golf ball-sized lump appeared, they knew something else was wrong.
Blood tests revealed Colton had experienced a potentially fatal dose of lead, nearly 12 times the amount considered toxic. When investigators later tested the medallion, they found it was 39 percent lead.
Lead exposure can kill children when they’re exposed to high doses. It has also been shown to cause brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems and kidney damage, according to the National Safety Council.
Doctors began an intensive effort to remove the lead from Colton’s blood, giving him three injections of a medicine that bound to the lead and helped flush it from his system. He underwent two courses of IV treatment in the hospital and took another medicine at home to try to bring the lead levels down.
For four years, doctors have taken regular blood tests from Colton to track the lead levels. In January, a test found lead at about twice normal levels. That’s still considered toxic, but “it’s not fatal,” Burkhart said.
Today, Colton doesn’t show any visible effects from the lead exposure. And without many toys, he loves hunting, fishing and playing goalie on the soccer field, Burkhart said.
“So far he seems like a healthy 8-year-old boy,” Burkhart said. “But we have to wait to see what the future holds.”
The Burkharts sued L.M. Becker & Co., the company that distributed the Indian-made necklace in the U.S. They settled the case out of court, but the incident led to the recall of 1.4 million necklaces.
In 2006, three years after Colton was poisoned, a 4-year-old boy in Minneapolis died after swallowing a bracelet that contained high lead levels.
“It made me so mad when I found out about (that),” Burkhart said. “I could’ve been that mom.”
While lead content in paint is strictly regulated, there is no legal restriction on lead in jewelry. The maximum fine for a company that sells an unsafe product is $1.8 million.
Burkhart spent years publicizing the potential dangers of toys and jewelry and calling for stronger regulations of toys. That never happened, though, so Burkhart said she gave up her fight.
Concern about unsafe toys skyrocketed in the late summer after several companies recalled millions of toys with lead paint, and supporters of reform legislation called Burkhart.
Lobbying in D.C.
She returned to the bully pulpit Thursday to push for a bill introduced by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. The bill would allow fines as high as $100 million for companies that sell dangerous toys. It would require safety certification and increase the staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees product safety. It is backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Consumer’s Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.
A similar, but less-restrictive, bill in the U.S. House passed unanimously last year.
In a brief meeting Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Burkhart he would support Pryor’s bill, and he criticized the safety commission for shirking its duties.
“You do think, what happens if a government agency’s asleep at the switch?” Wyden said. “They’re not only asleep at the switch, they’ve completely left their posts.”
In a letter to Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord said she supports the effort to reduce lead in toys, but said Pryor’s bill was unworkable. That bill would impose too many responsibilities on her agency without providing enough funding to carry them out, and it imposes unwieldy fines on companies, she wrote.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., sits on the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over product safety issues. Smith’s spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said he does not support Pryor’s bill, but is concerned about the issue.
“He looks forward to working together in the Commerce Committee to draft bipartisan, sensible legislation to protect our children,” Gilbride said.
As she prepared to board her plane back to Redmond on Thursday afternoon, Burkhart said she was disappointed in Smith’s response, but thought her trip was worth it.
“I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me,” Burkhart said. “I’m about protecting somebody else.”
Keith Chu can be reached at 202-662-7456 or at kchu@bendbulletin.com.
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