When tested with an XRF instrument this vintage Band-Aid box had the following readings:
- Lead (Pb): 2,193 +/- 147 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 1,022 +/- 126 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 2,897 +/- 267 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 433 +/- 172 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 851,800 +/- 1,800 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 128,600 +/- 1,200 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 8,264 +/- 1,305 ppm
- Manganese (Mn): 3,916 +/- 559 ppm
Tests were done multiple time for a minimum of 60 seconds. Metals not detected by the XRF in consumer goods mode are not listed. All test results reported on this blog are replicable.
For Context: The amount of Lead that is considered toxic in a newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint or coating.
Takeaway: Don’t let children play with vintage tins. If you have a vintage tin collection, please consider putting it behind glass in a locked display case.
To see more vintage tins that I have tested, click here.
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. When you share my posts I earn advertising income that helps support the cost of my childhood Lead-poisoning prevention advocacy work and independent consumer goods testing and reporting.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I try to answer all questions personally, although with recent increased readership on my blog it may take me a while to respond!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
My mother had a lovely collection of cookie tins, some of them from the fifties, some from the sixties. After she died, i found myself unable to part with them. I use them to store things like sewing supplies, buttons, household batteries and so on, but never food. Do you thing I should just get rid of them?