Lead finding in Mexican candy raises health alert

Laredo Times ^ | 4/22/04 | Celina Alvarado

[SwinneySwitch]

Mexico's Minister of Health issued a statement this week, stating that the "dangerous amounts of lead" reportedly found in the Mexican imported candy bar, the "Chaca-Chaca, or Rielito," was an isolated incident, Health Department director Hector Gonzalez said Wednesday.

Mexican candy circulating on this side of the border raised red flags of alarm this week, after city of Laredo health officials issued an advisory to stop the consumer consumption of the Mexican-imported salt and chili-based fruit pulp candy bar.

A Health Department press release sent Monday stated that "recent analysis of Chaca Chaca by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that the candy does contain lead, which is extremely harmful especially to infants, children under age 6 and pregnant women."

Laredo health care providers have since been alerted and health officials are in constant communication with Mexican and state wide health authorities to confirm the abnormal amounts of lead found in the candy, were in fact the results of an isolated case.

Mexican officials defended the contamination problem was non-universal.

Mexican officials further alleged the contamination lay in the wrapper (which at times is decorated with lead based paint) and not within the candy itself, Gonzalez stated.

Does this mean the candy is safe to consume?

Health Department Director Hector Gonzalez said "no."

He advised the state lab is currently testing Texas samples for dangerous lead contamination in the state.

There is currently no official ban of the Chaca Chaca in Texas. Gonzalez assures the public that the City of Laredo Health Department staff has assured him that no one is in possession of or selling the candy in Laredo.

The Mexican-imported candy was recently banned in the state of California, reportedly after being linked to several incidents involving lead poisoning in children.

To put things into perspective, a young child eating one of these contaminated candies could ingest nearly twice the recommended level, City of Laredo Health officials said via a press release sent Monday.

The United States Food and Drug Administration recently placed the Chaca-Chaca product on "Import Alert," with the intention to detain future shipments of the candy and prevent its importation into the United States.

As part of the same initiative, U.S. border inspectors were authorized to stop shipments of the candy in the United States.

Other Mexican imported candy products, popular in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, such as lollipops coated with chili and powdery mixtures of salt, lemon flavor, and chili seasoning sold as a snack item, should also be avoided, warned the Food and Drug Administration.

At very high levels, lead poisoning can cause mental retardation, coma, convulsions and death. Low levels can cause slowed motor skills, lowered intelligence, speech difficulties, and hyperactivity.

Young malnutrition children face the greatest danger from exposure to lead.

Gonzalez advised all children (especially children under six years of age) be checked for lead levels, to better determine if further medical testing is warranted.

Laredo is currently number eight in the state for having the highest morbidity rate in Texas.

Gonzalez added that under normal conditions, especially in adults in good health, there is no significant health risk present.

For more information about lead poisoning, parents, and caretakers should contact the City of Laredo Health Department at (956) 795-4900, or (956) 795-4951.

(Times staff writer Celina Alvarado can be reached at 728-2566 or by email at celina@lmtonline.com)

04/22/04

[SwinneySwitch]

PELIGRO!

[Joe Hadenuf]

after city of Laredo health officials issued an advisory to stop the consumer consumption of the Mexican-imported salt and chili-based fruit pulp candy bar. A Health Department press release sent Monday stated that "recent analysis of Chaca Chaca by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that the candy does contain lead,

Lets see, one story on Mexican candy containing lead, and another guy in Mexico making tamales stuffed with human remains....

Is it lunch time yet?

[martin_fierro]

You don't want to know what goes into their tamales.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Best of both worlds. Pb and Jose.

[onedoug]

And people buy perscription drugs there, too.

[glock rocks]

ahhh. the joys of nafta. we're overregulated into competition with the turd world, and they do whatever they can get away with. isn't equality and diversity wonderful?

[B4Ranch]

You would prefer we give them direct foreign aid?

ps. I would! Maybe they would keep their leeches on their side of the border.

[hershey]

NAFTA was bound to have a few bugs. Only a handful of kids brain-damaged...yawn...this is what happens when the US,(regulated to the nth degree), has a de facto open border with a third world country that doesn't give a damn about its own citizens (they watch them leave by the millions and think everything is hunky dory.) So why should we think they'd care about obeying our laws? Every one of those families who suffered from this lead poisoning should sue the US govt. for shoving through NAFTA disregarding inevitable consequences. We think we can bring Iraq into the 21st century? Uh, we're not having much luck in that regard with Mexico.

[skeeter]

el General del cirujano se ha determinado que los productos alimenticios mexicanos son hazerdous a su salud!

[glock rocks]

I don't habla the mexicano, so I can only guess what you're saying.

[glock rocks]

Maybe they would keep their leeches on their side of the border.

maybe once our standard of living has sunk below theirs.

[Bigg Red]

Mexican candy circulating on this side of the border...

**

Who in their right mind would buy any foodstuffs from Mexico? Or from any other underdeveloped country? I never buy any food from Mexico, S. America, Asia, or Africa, no matter how good the price looks.

[FITZ]

NAFTA definitely has many flaws ---- and it never did any of what was promised ---- slow immigration???? That was a joke and the trade surplus we once had with that country has now turned into a large trade deficit. Mexico is becoming all the more desperately impoverished and more desperate to move to the USA post-NAFTA.

[FITZ]

You also have to be careful of a lot of the ceramic, clay and other cookware, utensils, and plates that you buy from there ---- lead poisoning is very high in Mexico. People who believe in open borders really should spend some time living and traveling in Mexico ---- not just to Cancun and the Zona Rosa but see the real Mexico.

[socal_parrot]

I just hope the Tecate, Carte Blanca and Pacifico supply is clean!

[Cate]

Again, Thank God for the USA... even though we grumble about our regulations, at least we do have the FDA.

[SwinneySwitch]

el General del cirujano se ha determinado que los productos alimenticios mexicanos son hazerdous a su salud!



The General of the surgeon has determined that the Mexican nutritional products are hazerdous to their health!

[glock rocks]

Yuppers. Thanks. (Watch out for those imported scallions.)

[B4Ranch]

>> I never buy any food from Mexico, S. America, Asia, or Africa, no matter how good the price looks.<<

Do you buy fresh vegetables or fresh fruit when the growing seasons are over in the US?

[Bigg Red]

I always first find out where they are from. I live in Maryland, and we are able to get a fair amount of produce from Florida and from California in winter. I do not expect to buy cantaloupe in the winter, that's for sure.