OAKLAND, CA —  Walmart and Target have pulled chairs, kid's boxing gloves and foam beads from their store shelves after tests showed they violate federal lead limits.

The Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) investigated the products as part of its ongoing tests of children's products to see if they comply with federal and California laws.

The federal limit of lead in children's products, 300 parts per million (ppm), was set by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, and that limit drops to 100 ppm in late 2011.

At Target (NYSE: TGT), two toddler chairs were found to have high level of lead, and one's lead content was 70 times the legal limit. Toddler beanbag chairs, youth boxing gloves and foam jewelry beads from Walmart (NYSE: WMT) were found to have three times to 45 times the legal lead limit. The products were purchased from California stores and online in September.

After the California Attorney General's office notified the stores of the violations, Target decided to stop all sales of the products, but Walmart was going to only pull the items from California stores. Walmart has since said it would stop selling the products nationwide, according to the CEH.

The CEH also tested some adult jewelry from Walmart and found three items that also contained high levels of lead. The Attorney General plans to ask Walmart to stop selling those products, too.

The CEH's product tests are funded by a grant from the California Attorney General that is administered by the non-profit Public Health Trust. 

_{Products containing lead - image courtesy Center for Environmental Health}