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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (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 tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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Published: January 30, 2020
Updated: November 19, 2023

Is Lead in the ink and paint — on the covers and pages — of vintage books really a problem?

Many Lead Safe Mama readers have asked the following questions (or some variation of these question) in response to seeing the XRF test results I have published for several examples of popular vintage children’s books:

• ”Is it really a problem? Especially if a kid is not eating a book?”
• “Do we need to take this seriously?”
• “Or, is it ‘only’ a potential contributor to total aggregate Lead from various background sources in our lives?”

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My response (updated):

There is a potential significant Lead dust hazard with old books, which can include concerns for both the inhalation of and ingestion of Lead-containing micro-dust.

The possibility of Lead dust ingestion when using vintage or antique books is especially a concern with young children given normal hand-to-mouth activity during story time (thumb sucking at bedtime, for example).

As far as the inhalation concern goes, I often share the following with families: Does your book have an “old book smell?” (Not a moldy smell, just an old paper smell?) If it does, that means it is likely creating Lead-contaminated dust that you can inhale. Vintage (or antique) paper, leather, and fabric are all very delicate (especially if well worn/ well used) and handling them (using them for reading — as intended) generally creates microparticulate dust from the wearing and deteriorating of those materials.

Lead is a neurotoxin; in fact, Lead is one of the most potent neurotoxins known to man, and all public agencies agree there is no “safe” level of Lead exposure for a child.

Many of the books I have tested using XRF technology (more on that here), including books like Winnie the Pooh (see image below) — especially hardcover books with painted decorations on the covers from the 1940s and 1950s and earlier — have been positive for 4,000 to 8,000 parts per million Lead (and sometimes even higher) in the worn painted cloth (or leather) covers.

Modern regulatory standards require newly-manufactured items (made after 2008) that are “intended for use by children” to not test positive for Lead at levels above 90 parts per million in the paint, glaze, or coating. If a modern item intended for use by children tests positive for more than 90 ppm Lead in the paint, it is considered illegal (a violation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008).

Unfortunately, even vintage or antique books that may not present a total content hazard by modern standards (because XRF readings of all components — pages and cover — come in below 90 ppm Lead) may present a significant Lead dust hazard given their age and state of deterioration.

Lead dust hazards are evaluated and measured in a completely different way (with different units of measurement — units that evaluate a much smaller amount of Lead) than Lead content hazards in consumer goods. Again, it literally takes just a microscopic (invisible to the naked eye) amount of Lead in dust to poison a child.

• • • Lead in paint is measured in milligrams of Lead per square centimeter.
    • Lead in consumer goods is measured in parts per million (ppm).
    • Lead in dust is measured in micrograms of Lead per square foot.
    • Lead in blood is measured in micrograms of Lead per deciliter of blood.
    • Lead in food and water is measured in parts per billion (ppb).

Not only are Lead-contaminated inks used in the printing of most older (pre-1985) books, but the decorative elements on their covers are often painted with actual LEAD-BASED PAINT, which all scientists agree creates Lead dust in one of the most dangerous forms for children. Lead paint dust can be a significant hazard and profound exposure source of Lead for a child. This Lead dust exposure concern is present even if young children are using these old books “normally”/ “as intended” (they don’t need to be chewing on the books for them to potentially be exposed). Here’s an article about how toxic Lead micro-dust can be.

To my knowledge, not a single scientific body has done any sort of study attempting to evaluate and quantify the Lead dust concern created by vintage or antique books.

Why?

The answer to this “why?” is always the same: There is no person (nor any industry) who perceives that any potential direct financial benefit would come from doing such a study, so no one has been willing to fund such as study. (If I am wrong about this and you know of a study that quantifies Lead dust hazards in vintage books, please do let me know by commenting on this piece!)

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Our Response: We Tested Some Vintage & Antique Books!

As a result of the lack of reliable science available to support this concern, we decided to undertake some independent dust wipe sample testing on a few old books that have been contributed (by Lead Safe Mama readers) to the Lead Safe Mama, LLC “Museum of Lead” collection.

I created some YouTube videos showing the dust wipe sample collection procedure on some of the old books and will update this article with those videos shortly.

We then sent the dust wipe samples we collected to a testing laboratory to see if the dust hazard could be quantified in some way as a correlative concern to certain total content levels (using XRF technology). 

We specifically did dust wipe sample testing on books that we knew tested positive for high levels of Lead using XRF technology.

The result of this dust wipe sampling (of a small sample of books) was yes — in fact, we did detect Lead dust levels that were definitely above the scientifically recommended safety level for Lead in dust that children will be exposed to.

We hope to do more of this testing soon.

• In the 1990s, the scientific recommendation was that the hazard level for Lead in dust (to help minimize exposure to children) should be set at 5 micrograms of Lead per square foot of floor area measured. Said another way: By this proposed standard, an area that children interact with needed to test negative for Lead with a reading of “less than 5” micrograms of Lead per square foot tested in order to be considered safe for children.
• Instead of following the scientific recommendation in the 1990s, our federal agencies (primarily HUD — but also supported by the EPA and CDC) set the official hazard level at 40 micrograms of Lead per square foot of dust measured, in spite of the scientific recommendation that the hazard level should be set at 5 micrograms.
• Back in August 2005, when my children were acutely Lead poisoned, the federal hazard level for Lead in dust on horizontal surfaces that children have access to (specifically floors) was still set at 40 micrograms of Lead per square foot of each horizontal surface measured.
• More recently (in December 2020), the hazard level for Lead in dust (on horizontal surfaces that children have access to) was finally lowered to 10 micrograms of Lead per square foot tested (lowered, but still not to the level recommended by the scientific community, which would be considered protective of children’s health).
• Then in October 2023, the EPA finally proposed a safety level for Lead in house dust that children may be exposed to that is actually protective of children’s health. This new proposed level is a literal zero micrograms of Lead per square foot of surface area tested. Given “zero” is difficult to achieve, the compromise offered is that the level be set at three (3.0) micrograms of Lead per square foot of dust collected (with a dust wipe sample test). Side note: Unfortunately, professionals in the hazard assessment industry are pushing back against this proposed new standard as they believe it is not reasonably achievable. I disagree with this as I have seen (in my work with families all over the country) that a level of “less than three” micrograms of Lead in house dust per square foot measured IS easily achievable — and should be the set level given it is more protective of human health.

With this understanding (that levels as low as 5 micrograms of Lead in dust might be harmful to children, which we have known since at least the early 1990s), the levels of Lead in the dust we found on the antique/vintage books that we tested fell within the range of 5 to 8 micrograms of Lead per square foot of area tested. This level is definitely above both the scientific recommendation from the 1990s and well above the currently recommended threshold (a true zero, with a compromised low threshold of detection of 3.0) that was proposed earlier this year.

This testing clearly confirmed that — in the absence of comprehensive testing (testing which can be cost prohibitive and, in some cases exceeds the value of the books tested) — vintage and antique books should not be considered safe for children to use.

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What should I do with my old books?

Books are often cherished parts of your family history and traditions, so I understand it is hard to part with them even if you know that they are not safe to use and handle. I have a few recommendations that I typically make to families who have collections of older (vintage or antique) books:

1. If you must keep these books, keep them in a locked cabinet behind glass.
2. If they are rare and out-of-print children’s stories consider scanning the stories into your computer and reading to your children from the digital files, keeping the books themselves locked away.
3. If they are mass-manufactured (not rare, hard to find, or unusual) books that are still in print today (like the Dr. Seuss books), please consider tossing the old versions (since they don’t have much value) and buying a newly printed Lead-free version of the story for your library (making that your new family heirloom)!
4. If they are books that belonged to a late-relative and if they have significant value (historic, religious or otherwise) consider donating them (in the name of a family member) to an educational or religious institution where they will be appreciated and preserved (and not handled by children). (With one family I helped, I suggested that they could donate their late-father’s extensive book collection to the university he attended, with a plaque at the front of each book noting it was a contribution from his estate in honor of his grandchildren.)
5. If you do use or handle these books do not do it during meal-time or while eating (and do not do it at bed time/ in bed). Handle them in an environment where food is not eaten and then wash your hands well after handling (using soap and a wash cloth).

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Here are the direct links for the articles that initiated these inquiries:

1. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960 copy) — positive for 97 ppm Lead using XRF technology
2. Go Dog Go! (1961 copy) — positive for 131 ppm Lead using XRF technology
3. Are You My Mother? (1960 copy) — positive for 58 ppm Lead using XRF technology

As always, thank you for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer them personally as soon as I have a moment.

Tamara Rubin
Owner — Lead Safe Mama, LLC
#LeadSafeMama

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