As many of you know, we have been investigating the ingredients in tagless onesies in an attempt to help consumers identify what might be causing allergic reactions in their children. We've partnered with the Center for Environmental Health, a grant-funded organization that is testing products sold in the state of California for violations of that state's and federal lead limits, and have sent them dozens of infant bodysuits we purchased at a number of big-box stores.

Working with CEH, we have identified a onesie with a tagless label that appears to contain lead at nearly double the current federal limit. We find it deeply disturbing that tagless labels would be discovered to contain any lead, let alone banned levels of it, and we are eager to get this product off store shelves and recalled by the brand that is selling them to unsuspecting parents. The protocol for CEH to accomplish this involves sending samples out for acid digest testing by an accredited third-party lab, which, if the findings are confirmed, can then trigger action by the California state government, products being pulled from shelves, and recalls.

But there's a problem. After CEH identified the issue in the sample we sent, they went out and purchased all of the onesies in their local area that matched the one we sent them, and now have seven in all. But they have been told by the lab that based on the nature of the material being sampled (less than one square inch of material for each garment) they would need about 20 of these garments to do conclusive testing. Although sources in California would be preferred, any U.S. location will do for the purposes of this testing.

The alternative is that a product with known harmful and illegal levels of accessible lead would remain on store shelves and the company that markets them would continue doing so with impunity.

We've checked our local stores for this item, but they're sold out. We'd buy all thirteen for CEH if we could - this product should not be sold and is exposing children to unsafe levels of lead through direct skin contact. And that's where you come in. We need our readers to help us find and send these products to the Center for Environmental Health - in the next few days, if possible - to help get these products off store shelves. So we're asking:

Can you help?

If you live in a community large enough to support major national retailers, you probably have the store we're looking for in your area. If you can spare a few minutes this weekend while you're out running errands and are willing to buy an item that costs under $10 and drop it in the mail for us, please get in touch with us directly at zrecsmedia@gmail.com and we will respond with the name of the store, a photograph of the onesie we're looking for, and an address to send the garments to if you find any. If we're going to succeed in protecting kids from this unsafe product, we can't do it without your help.