1981 Colorforms Tummy Ache the Junk Food Game, board with spinner: 29 ppm Lead (safe by all current standards… but…)

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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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Vintage Colorforms

The Colorforms game board pictured here tested “safe by all modern standards” — meaning there was no component (no color or area of the board pictured) that tested positive for a level of Lead above the 90 ppm threshold the CPSIA set for the presence of Lead in modern consumer goods manufactured for children’s use today. HOWEVER… the reader who sent this to Lead Safe Mama only mailed the board (with one coated cardboard game piece, which I will report on separately), NOT the vinyl/ plastic/ rubberized pieces that come with most Colorforms sets. As a result, my curiosity was piqued. I checked out eBay and purchased a NEW-in-box (never used) vintage Colorforms toy set (also, coincidentally from 1981) and tested both the background board AND the rubberized “sticker” components for Lead. The results of that testing were quite alarming. Stand by for those (to be published and linked here shortly), and in the meantime, below are the test results for the game board pictured.

1981 Colorform Tummy Ache the Junk Food Game Board XRF Test Results

Black plastic spinner:

• Barium (Ba): 937 +/- 231 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 61 +/- 21 ppm

White area on the front of the game board:

• Lead (Pb): 15 +/- 8 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 372 +/- 221 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 414 +/- 32 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 524 +/- 70 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,069 +/- 112 ppm

Black area on the front of the game board:

• Lead (Pb): 27 +/- 10
• Barium (Ba): 2,187 +/- 233 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 403 +/- 35 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 470 +/- 74 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,079 +/- 109 ppm

Blue area on the front of the game board:

• Lead (Pb): 19 +/- 11 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 428 +/- 43 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 525 +/- 93 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,165 +/- 118 ppm

Red area on the front of the game board:

• Zinc (Zn): 413 +/- 42 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 474 +/- 89 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,087 +/- 93 ppm
• Chlorine (Cl): 1,730 +/- 758 ppm

Yellow area on the front of the game board:

• Lead (Pb): 21+/- 10 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 404 +/- 253 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 495 +/- 41 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 510 +/- 83 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 994 +/- 91 ppm
• Chlorine (Cl): 1,544 +/- 752 ppm

Green area on the front of the game board:

• Lead (Pb): 29 +/- 14 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 362 +/- 46 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 410 +/- 98 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,071 +/- 114 ppm
• Chlorine (Cl): 1,757 +/- 936 ppm

Black paper on the back side of the game board:

• Chromium (Cr): 58 +/- 29 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 345 +/- 46 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 656 +/- 116 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 2,402 +/- 137 ppm

As always, thank you for reading and sharing these results. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama