Press Release

October 25, 2005
Eileen Shields, Public Information Officer, 415/554-2507

Parents and Children to Picket Store in Mission Selling Lead-Laced Candy

“Putting the Lid on Lead”

San Francisco, CA -- Some San Franciscans are raising a little early Halloween mischief in the Mission this year in observance of National Lead Prevention Week.

On Wednesday, Oct 26th, from 12:15 – 1 p.m., parents from Mujeres Unidas, children from the 24th Street Head Start program and staff from the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Lead Prevention Program plan to hold a demonstration in front of El Chico's at 24th & Alabama in the Mission District. El Chico’s is still selling lead-laced candy, despite a number of letters requesting that they voluntarily remove it from their shelves.

The group also plans to distribute Halloween flyers at 16th and 24th Street BART stations on Friday, October 28th to help raise awareness of the potential danger to children from eating candy with lead.

Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed AB 121, the first law of its kind nationwide that bans the selling of lead-tainted candy. The law takes effect on January 1, 2006. Meanwhile, pockets of availability still exist and local activists are making their concerns public by raising awareness of those stores who continue to sell the popular candies.

The new law will get rid of the lead in contaminated candies that are coming from other countries, but mostly from Mexico. San Francisco has been working with merchants in the Mission for nearly two years in an effort to have store owners and managers remove the candy voluntarily. Now the law will force removal of the candies.

The new law will:

• Establish a health-based standard for lead in candy
• Provide clear authority to the Department of Health Services to test, ban and remove chili and tamarind candies contaminated with lead
• Prohibit the sale of chili and tamarind candies contaminated with lead
• Proactively test chili and tamarind candies before being allowed to be sold
• Require issuance of health advisories when lead has been found in candies to warn parents, health departments and school districts

While applauding the Governor’s signage of AB 121, local health authorities and parents want stores to discontinue selling the candy immediately.