The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, in its ongoing efforts to protect New Jersey consumers, has recently obtained three "state of the art" hand held Niton XL3t 700 Series analyzers to be used for screening toys, jewelry, apparel, and other objects for lead and other toxic metals that present a danger to the residents of New Jersey and especially children. Our Investigators, along with personnel from the Monmouth County Department of Health, are scheduled to receive training on the use of the instruments in the latter part of October. Following that training the Division, along with Monmouth County Department of Health personnel, will conduct several outreach programs and pro-active activities to screen items that may be a potential danger to children. It is planned that the program will expand to include many of our County Consumer Affairs offices throughout the state of New Jersey.

The screening of the objects will be done in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines and the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Under this law, the levels of allowable lead and other heavy metals in paints was reduced on August 14, 2008, and will be reduced further on toys manufactured after February 10, 2010.