H&M Handbags Chock Full ‘O Poisonous Lead

Lead paint has been banned for residential use in the US for years because, well, lead is some nasty crap. It has a tendency to stunt growth in kids, cause nervous system damage and generally just result in some shady side effects. Oh, and if you own H&M accessories, you may be clutching a little bundle of fairly intense lead right now!

The mega-purveyor of fast, fall apart fashion just settled a lawsuit brought down on them by the Center for Environmental Health over the fact that various accessories contained 13 to 115 times the legal limit of lead. Hopefully, the settlement will discourage further chemical nastiness in H&M products. In the meantime though, I’m burning that bag my crazy aunt gave me instead of leaving it shoved into a corner of my room.