I got my kids tested for lead today, since we live in an 80 year old house. The nurse was going over the sources of lead: blinds. paint, etc when she mentioned plastic toys-especially those not made in the U.S. Well, that means 99.9 per cent of my boys' plastic toys have lead in them! Why didn't I know this?! What about other plastic toys, like from Mexico or Germany? Does anyone have a link to share?

yup...plastic is nasty. Even if your other plastic toys made in other countries are lead free (which I doubt) they are still off gasing other compounds as they break down. Time to make the switch to wood....Goodwill is a great place to start!!

I totally agree... but remember that they will be getting it from everywhere... so try not to go millitant and take all of their favorite toys away. ;) I did this, and ended up giving some of them back within two weeks. Mr Potato heads, Legos, and My Little Ponies to be exact. There are just no inexpensive wood counterparts.

Love Val

I didnt know this either, thanks for posting!

What about wooden toys that have been painted?? Newer ones of course, like the painted wooden blocks? Are they safe or not?

do you have mini blinds? if you do and they were made before 1998 they likely contain HUGE HUGE HUGE amounts of lead.

edited to say...
okay i see you mentioned the blinds so i guess you've already ruled that out. that's what happened to us. old mini blinds when we bought the house. TONS of lead in them :(

I read that if the blinds were made in the U.S., they were okay. But I dunno...what did they do in 1998 to lower the levels of lead? Makes you wonder what the standards are, ya know?

As far as the painted toys, the nurse told me that they had lead in them too, and you can't go by the "non-toxic" label, as lead isn't lethal, at least, not in a single paint chip, etc. That's what the nurse told me, I still am wondering if she's 100 per cent correct. I rather err on the side of caution but as Val pointed out, you can't take away all of their toys-they are bound to love something that is plastic. My DSs love their trucks. I think there should be a public service announcement -these plastic toys contain lead! I doubt that would happen-imagine all the money the toy industry would lose...

Actually-any plastic toy that is brightly colored has lead in it and can have other heavy metals like Cadmium-that is how they get all the pretty colors. It has nothing to do with if it is painted or not.

I have put a stop to most plastic toys in the house. We do have some...but not many. Val is right-it is hard to get rid of it all. DD loves her Duplo Leggos. I have to admit-when I started researching plastic/toys/PVC/Lead I went nuts-and wanted eveything out.

Electrical cords are coated with PVC(for insulation)-and can have lead also. We tested all of ours-and none of them came up with enough lead to show up on the test.

The blinds are OK if after 1998. We tested those too...and the dust beneath them-and nothing came up positive.

So I guess what I am saying is that we did test stuff and it didn't have enough lead to come up positive. That was comforting.

Just FYI-there are herbals for heavy metal chelation therapy. I don't know much about them-or about using them with kids...but lots of herbalists do. I know cilantro is one of them-so if you like Mexican food - you are on your way!

Does anyone have a link showing this information? I would love to research this more. Thanks mamas!!!

http://www.oregontoxics.org/toys.html and this one: http://www.cfc-efc.ca/healthy-spaces/pvctoys_en.php

I'm just starting to research this...can't believe I was so ignorant!

Thanks for all of that great info!

Originally posted by amyorama
http://www.oregontoxics.org/toys.html and this one: http://www.cfc-efc.ca/healthy-spaces/pvctoys_en.php

I'm just starting to research this...can't believe I was so ignorant!

Thanks!!!! :thumbsup:

Ok, on my litle soap box for a minute...hee hee

yes plastics of every kind are horrible, not only lead but other chemicals that can affect your immune system and reproductive system...just by being in contact with them frequently, but as was said, it's almost impossible to totally cust plastics out of our life, just do the best you can. *hugs*

Ok, off little soap box, hee hee

Originally posted by sweetladyaz
Ok, on my litle soap box for a minute...hee hee

yes plastics of every kind are horrible, not only lead but other chemicals that can affect your immune system and reproductive system...just by being in contact with them frequently, but as was said, it's almost impossible to totally cust plastics out of our life, just do the best you can. *hugs*

Ok, off little soap box, hee hee

ITA... When I first learned about this I felt SO overwhelmed!! But after slowly (very slowly- like over a year) of weeding them out and not buying any we have very little plactic toys (some but about 90% less than we used to). I was lucky, DD wasn't ito any plastci toys and DS was too young to remember them so there really are no toys we had to keep. They doi play with plastic when they gp to my mom's but they must stay there. It works out though because they don't get bored with toys as much as they used to.
I also agree thrift shops are a great place to start. Keep your eyes open and look at wood items from a child's POV! If it's wood and safe could it be used as a toy even if that wasn't what it was made for?

Good luck... We are still fighting this but I jsut wanted to send some support!