Another reason to avoid vintage toys — toy triceratops: 6,298 ppm Lead. This would be illegal if made today.

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Introduction (for those new to this website):

Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals), including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic. All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times, to confirm the test results for each component. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023.

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The amount of Lead considered unsafe and illegal in a modern item manufactured for use by children today is anything 90 ppm or higher in the paint or coating or anything 100 ppm or higher in the substrate. As a result of the high levels of Lead found in this toy (see exact full XRF test results below), it would be considered illegal if sold for use by children today. 

To see more toys I have tested, click here.

To see more toy dinosaurs I have tested, click here.

When tested with an XRF instrument, this toy plastic triceratops dinosaur (“Made in China”) had the following readings (each test done for at least 60 seconds, metals not listed were not detected).

Scroll down below the images to see the readings associated with each image.

Belly (unpainted — image above):

• Lead (Pb): 6,298 +/- 137 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 157 +/- 11 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 916 +/- 68 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 388 +/- 179 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 1,051 +/- 32 ppm
• Bromine (Br): 51 +/- 8 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 185 +/- 19 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 149 +/- 28 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 603 +/- 87 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 5,783 +/- 1,698 ppm

Black Painted Back (image above):

• Lead (Pb): 6,215 +/- 129 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 141 +/- 10 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 646 +/- 58 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 473 +/- 161 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 923 +/- 28 ppm
• Bromine (Br): 48 +/- 8 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 184 +/- 17 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 169 +/- 25 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 632 +/- 81 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 7,030 +/- 1,516 ppm

While Lead can cause permanent brain damage in young children (as with my son who has a diagnosed brain injury from being Lead poisoned as a baby), the high levels of Cadmium and Antimony in this toy are also concerning as each of those heavy metals has been demonstrated to cause cancer.

The test results reported here on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Multiple tests were done on the separate components to confirm the levels found. All test results reported on this site are from testing done with a freshly calibrated XRF instrument testing in “Consumer Goods” mode (with readouts in parts per million — ppm).

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading and for sharing my articles.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama