The Health Department yesterday issued an advisory listing the tainted Chinese-made crayons and asked parents, nursery operators and teachers to check whether they had any of the brands.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brenda Davidson added: "We have contacted distributors and retailers and requested that these products be removed immediately. We are concerned, however, that some of the crayons have already been sold and parents may have purchased crayons overseas.

"Lead-tainted products can be hazardous to health. Even small amounts of lead can be absorbed into the body if a child repeatedly sucks or chews on the lead-tainted product.'' Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said one of the three brands found to be heavily tainted with lead, "I'm a Toys R Us Kid'' Crayons, is sold locally.

Other crayons on the Health Department's list included: 12 Jumbo Crayons (Concord), 12 Crayons Glory, 18 Crayons that Paint, 64 Crayons School Quality, 64 Crayons (Baum), 12 Super Jumbo Crayons (Agora), 8 Crayons (Agora), Fun Time 72 Crayons, 64 Crayons Kidz Biz, Feido 12 Crayons.

The US Government this week warned parents to check their kids' crayon boxes after learning millions of crayons imported from China contained enough lead to be harmful to children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission advised parents to throw away boxes of crayons under three popular brands: I'm a Toys R Us Kid!, 12 Jumbo Crayons, and 12 Crayons by Glory and 18 Crayons That Paint by Glory.

Eight other brands were also singled out as having levels of lead which caused concern.

Lead poisoning can result from a child chewing on, sucking or actually eating a crayon.

The best selling crayons in the United States, American-made Crayola, contain no detetectable lead.

There were no suspected cases of lead poisoning due to Chinese-import crayons, Mr. Edness said.

Chinese-import crayons should be taken to the Victoria Street Health Clinic.

Any parent who fears their child has been exposed to toxic crayons should contact their doctor or the Health Department at 236-0224.