[yhahmd]

I picked up a bottle of these about a week ago. They're kids vitamins, and you're supposed to take 2 a day. I did, for maybe 2-3 days. THEN someone sent me a web page that said they contained high levels of lead. I was like, whaaat? I did some looking around, and the owner says it isn't true at all, and that they made a mistake, etc.

I just bought this bottle of 70 of them, and it's already open, what do I do? This was all back in 04-06, so I can't find much now. It might've been resolved and no longer be an issue, I don't know.

Would you guys continue to take them?

[kaplods]

This sounded like an urban legend to me, so I looked into it and learned that the lab that tested L'il Critters vitamins found trace amounts of lead in every single brand of vitamin that they tested, and in every case, the lead levels were all far less the amount considered unsafe. And in fact, the concenration wasn't any higher than that found in fruits and vegetables (yes, even organic produce).

Essentially the explanation is that lead is in our air and water, and can't be entirely eliminated (and this isn't necessarily all due to "contamination." Lead isn't only a contaminant, it's also a naturally occuring element. You can't get it out of everything, even if you wanted to.

So the issue really isn't "is there lead" (because there is - everywhere), but "are the levels of lead, safe," and from everything I could find online, the answer appears to be yes.

[yhahmd]

That's what I thought, but the more I looked the more I found that said just the opposite. So I was beginning to get really confused.

You're right, there's lead in practically everything and we're all being around it and ingesting it daily.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. I think I'll start taking them again. They might not have much benefit health wise (especially considering the sugar in them) but I bought them and don't want to let them go to waste.

[kaplods]

The scary misinformation very often outnumbers the boring truth. Nothing travels faster than a scary rumor.

That's why you have to consider the reliability of the sources. Most of the scary information comes from individuals and tabloid style organizations. Sometimes false "facts" are thrown in to make it sound legitimate (there'll be a report that a study was published in a nonexistent journal or newspaper, or they'll use a real publication, but if you go to the publication you will find that there was never any such article published).

That's why I always go to sources I trust. When something sounds suspicious I first check urban legend sites like snopes.

Reputable news organizations, medical sites, and many large university sites are generallly much more reliable (though you have to be careful even with that, because there are people who set up bogus sites to look likereal, actually existing universities and medical schools, etc. or they create mythical universities, newspapers.... Spotting the fakes and counterfeit sites can be tricky.