Baby contracts lead poisoning from ‘healing’ teething bracelet

A baby in the US suffered from lead poisoning after being given a 'healing' bracelet for teething.

The poisoning was picked up on during a health check, according to a report by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The nine-month-old was found to have over eight times the normal levels of lead in its blood - anything above 5 micrograms per decilitre is abnormal, while this infant had 41 micrograms per decilitre. Officials investigated the child's home, where it was cared for, and found that some paint in the home contained lead as it had been built in the 1920s. The paint was ruled out as it was on the windows and was not accessible to the infant. The culprit turned put to be a hand-painted "homeopathic magnetic hematite healing bracelet" that the baby's parents had bought at a local fair. They had put the bracelet on the child to help relieve its teething pain, but paint on its spacer beads was found to contain lead. The bracelet had no marking to indicate what it contained and as it had been bought at a fair, its manufacturer could not be identified. The CDC report does not state how ill the child became or any details of its recovery, but the incident is a reminder to parents to be vigilant about what they let children put in their mouths. The HSE has advised against the use of amber bracelets and necklaces for teething relief, but because of the choking hazard they present.