Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Bite on the end of a pencil while you are calculating those final figures – and you could end up sick or even dead. While lead’s especially dangerous for youngsters it’s not exactly nutritional for adult brains.

According to a report today at United Press International … thousands of pencil sets were just recalled in Canada for dangerously high lead content. Excessive exposure to lead affects the brain and nerves and can cause damage from seizures, to mental retardation, to mood fluctuations, to memory loss.

Toronto’s United Press International reported that the… “sets of pencils sold in Canada are being recalled because of high lead content in the coating.”

It concerns Health Canada a great deal that these sets have more than 600 milligrams of lead per kilogram. CBC reminded its radio audience today that in North America such a high lead content means these contaminated pencils cannot be sold or even advertised.

You might have bought one of these China made pencil sets as far back as last January. Luckily no reports of illness have come in yet – so it could be that the pencil sets were discovered in time … before lead accumulation created havoc.

With today’s recall just off the press - it may be best not to bite on the end of your pencil anyway. Sounds like an invitation for more brain based collaborations though, before we partner with any business abroad. Could dangerous toxins be prevented if we used our brains for manufacturing solutions … rather than poison them by how we currently outsource business? What do you think?