Yesterday there were several posts to Broad Universe about a new government regulation that all children's books must be tested for lead and certified as lead-free.

Are they serious? Lead? In books??

Turns out it is dead-serious. A government letter was issued on December 23. There might possibly be traces of lead in the ink, cover, paper, or binding. See here and here for more information.

Just think: Some innocent little tyke picks up a cute little bunny book and gets lead poisoning. So what are they going to do? Eat it? (Talk about devouring your reading.)

So now publishers will have to test for it--a costly process only a few labs can perform--and certify that the books are lead-free. As a result, some publishers are asking authors to revise books intended for children to YA.

Now, I'm all for saving kids from lead poisoning, but this is totally ridiculous.