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.
Test results for Strawberry Surprise G1 (first generation) My Little Pony (MLP) figurine:
Here’s a link to the My Little Pony Wiki Page for the doll pictured. Below are the XRF test results for the doll pictured. To date, all of the My Little Pony dolls that I have tested (both vintage and new) have been negative for Lead.
XRF focused on the cutie mark
60-second test
- Silver (Ag): 17 +/- 6 ppm
- Palladium (Pd): 15 +/- 5 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 2,318 +/- 127 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 156 +/- 54 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 589 +/- 172 ppm
- Indium (In): 45 +/- 11 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 124,200 +/- 4,700 ppm
XRF focused on the green of the eyes
60-second test
- Silver (Ag): 11 +/- 4 ppm
- Palladium (Pd): 7 +/- 3 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 1,767 +/- 85 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 713 +/- 144 ppm
- Indium (In): 31 +/- 8 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 150,00 +/- 4,500 ppm
XRF focused on the plain pink plastic of the pony
60-second test
- Silver (Ag): 10 +/- 4 ppm
- Palladium (Pd): 8 +/- 3 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 1,462 +/- 77 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 550 +/- 140 ppm
- Indium (In): 31 +/- 8 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 5,819 +/- 601 ppm
XRF focused on the pony’s bright pink hair
30-second test
- Silver (Ag): 17 +/- 5 ppm
- Nb: 1,873 +/- 53 ppm
- Palladium (Pd); 13 +/- 4 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 310 +/- 59 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 53 +/- 21 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 121 +/- 42 ppm
- Indium (In): 43 +/- 9 ppm
Some additional reading that might be of interest:
- To see more My Little Pony-type dolls I have tested, click here.
- To see more vintage toys I have tested, click here.
- To read more about the concern for Lead in toys, click here.
- To learn about the testing methodology used for all of the test results reported on this website, click here.
- IF you are NEW to this website, please watch this video about how to navigate the more than 2,600 posts with information and resources!
- Can I test my toys myself at home?
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them personally (as soon as I have a kid-free moment, moments that are currently few and far between because I have not had childcare since March – at the beginning of the pandemic!).
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama 
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