Folks are surprised when I say relatively modern toys from their youth may not be safe for kids. This 1992 toy is painted with Leaded paint.

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). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

90 PPM Lead (or higher) is unsafe for kids. This Super Block Head! game from 1992 tested positive for Lead at levels higher than 1,000 ppm!

The amount of Lead that is considered unsafe for items intended for use by children and made today is anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint, glaze, or coating, and anything 100 ppm Lead or higher in the substrate. I would not consider this toy safe for use by children today. Most important to know for context: this toy would be illegal if manufactured today. Please scroll down in the article to see the exact XRF test results for each color of block in this toy. The presence of Lead and the level of Lead in the paint (for those that did have Lead) varied by color.

“But I had a toy like this when I was a kid and I am ok!”

The sentiment expressed in the above quote (or some version of it) is a common refrain, and in response, I wrote an entire article for you to share with parents or grandparents (or spouses or friends) whose lack of concern is based on that notion. Here’s a link to that article, here. The fundamental guiding principle that we can all use in a situation like this is “Know Better, Do Better” – why would you knowingly give your child a toxic toy to play with? [Especially a younger child who might put that toy in their mouth!]

“Will my child get poisoned by using this particular toy?”

Strangely, this is a complete unknown — there is no manufacturer that has a financial interest in underwriting research to quantify the potential risk of their historic/vintage/legacy products (even though many vintage toys are products that were often “made to last a lifetime,” and are being handed down through the generations).

There have been several independent studies that demonstrate a basis for real potential concern for toxicants found in vintage toys in general (without identifying specific toys and specific manufacturers of concern). Here’s a link with more information. In my opinion — it is simply not worth the possible risk to allow any kid to play with vintage toys (specifically Lead-painted wooden toys in this case!) incorporating such potentially high levels of multiple neurotoxic metals. There are plenty of modern safer choices available for kids today — and they are normally quite inexpensive. The image below is an affiliate link* to a similar modern version of this exact game that is likely negative for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic.