Lead in casino chips

On the heels of the news that Las Vegas SUN: Does lead make gaming chips hazardous to your health?“>grave shift can give you cancer (allegedly) comes news that gaming chips that have been used in casinos for decades have lead in them. It’s not a good week to be a dealer on grave, is it? From the LV Sun:

Four weeks after a Phoenix TV station reported that some gambling chips manufactured by a Las Vegas company contained exceptionally high lead content, anxious casino dealers say they still don’t know if they’re handling toxic materials for a living.

The report put the manufacturer, Gaming Partners International – the world’s largest gaming chip maker – on the defensive; the casino industry’s trade association said after some delay that the issue is being reviewed, and government health experts shrug.

Some say they agree with the company that today’s chips aren’t dangerous. Others are tentative. They all note that except for paint, there are no government standards for lead content in consumer goods.

Gaming Partners says it assumes the tested chips were manufactured years ago and contain much more lead than today’s chips.

But such assurances have done little to calm concerns of dealers – expressed in break rooms and on Web sites that cater to the dealer and poker communities.

Las Vegas SUN: Does lead make gaming chips hazardous to your health?

Deeper into the story, most experts disputed the idea that lead from chips could cause a health hazard, but no one issued an absolute denial. That’s what’s meant by “government health experts shrug.”

I imagine that one could write a series of articles about the health hazards casino employees face every day–from patrons (and fellow employees) carrying communicable diseases to cigarette smoke and everyday workplace toxins, there’s lots of material there.

Then again, you could probably say the same for any workplace, so this might not be breaking news.

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