Advancing Public Health Interventions: A Novel Surveillance System for Hazardous Consumer Products.

Lead poisoning remains a significant public health concern with preventable exposure from different sources, including certain traditional consumer products. To address the concern of product-related lead exposures, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has developed the Non-Paint Sample Database (NPSD). NPSD systematically tracks information about hazardous consumer products collected during New York City case investigations and store surveys.

Health Remedies as a Source of Lead, Mercury, and Arsenic Exposure, New York City, 2010-2019.

To describe the types of health remedies collected during poisoning investigations in New York City over a 10-year period that were found to contain high levels of lead, mercury, or arsenic. Between 2010 and 2019, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene collected 584 samples of health remedies during poisoning investigations and store surveys for lead, mercury, or arsenic analysis. There was a significant association between blood lead levels and estimated cumulative daily lead exposures among adult users of Ayurvedic medications.

A Spoonful of Lead: A 10-Year Look at Spices as a Potential Source of Lead Exposure.

Context: While lead-based paint and occupational lead hazards remain the primary sources of lead exposures among New York City's lead-poisoned children and men, respectively, these are not the only possible lead sources. Certain consumer products are often implicated. Between 2008 and 2017, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tested more than 3000 samples of consumer products during lead poisoning case investigations and surveys of local stores, and of these, spices were the most frequently tested (almost 40% of the samples).