Vintage 1962 Milton Bradley Candy Land Boardgame: 41 ppm Lead, safe by all modern standards… But…

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Vintage Candy Land Boardgame

While the total content Lead test results for this vintage Candy Land game board (using high-precision XRF technology) are fairly low (and within the range of what is considered safe by all modern standards even for newly manufactured items intended for use by children), I do have concerns about vintage paper and cardboard products (like vintage game boards) with trace Lead present potentially creating Leaded dust at levels that are not within safe ranges.

How can you know if items like this are actually safe?

I recently tested a vintage book using the dust wipe sampling testing methodology and the results of that will shed some insight as to whether or not my concerns for children’s products of this nature are warranted. I should have those test results available in the coming week. Additionally, the owner of this boardgame did not send me the original vintage game pieces that accompanied the board, but based on my decade+ experience in testing objects like this I am fairly confident that at least the red and yellow plastic gingerbread men pieces (if that is what came with this game) are likely to also test positive for Lead (and at much higher levels than found on the board).


XRF test results for vintage Candy Land boardgame

Test on yellow part of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 27 +/- 13 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 203 +/- 36 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 521 +/- 99 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 8,999 +/- 275 ppm

Test on white part of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 38 +/- 14 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 266 +/- 39 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 531 +/- 101 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 8,615 +/- 273 ppm

Test on blue part of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 39 +/- 14 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 157 +/- 34 ppm
  • Copper (Cu): 61 +/- 29 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 441 +/- 92 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 8,426 +/- 264 ppm

Test on green part of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 28 +/- 12 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 183 +/- 33 ppm
  • Copper (Cu): 56 +/- 30 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 453 +/- 91 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 7,952 +/- 249 ppm

Test on red part of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 37 +/- 12 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 159 +/- 29 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 548 +/- 87 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 8,941 +/- 265 ppm

Test on back of board:

  • Lead (Pb): 41 +/- 9 ppm
  • Barium (Ba): 324 +/- 171 ppm
  • Zinc (Zn): 195 +/- 21 ppm
  • Iron (Fe): 392 +/- 54 ppm
  • Titanium (Ti): 2,113 +/- 105 ppm

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

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama


For those new to the Lead Safe Mama 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 four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).


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One Comment

  1. Good point about the lead dust with the concept of the paper/cardboard crumbling or what-not.
    Thank you!!

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