Plastic Building Blocks

How old are your child’s toys? Mega Bloks Large Yellow Building Block (c. 1990-2007?): 5,402 ppm Lead (90 is unsafe for kids) + 88 ppm Mercury

How old are your child’s toys? Mega Bloks Large Yellow Building Block (c. 1990-2007?): 5,402 ppm Lead (90 is unsafe for kids) + 88 ppm Mercury

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Introduction to Tamara Rubin (for those new to this website!) Tamara Rubin lives in Portland, Oregon and is a child health advocate, author, documentary filmmaker, and mother of four sons. Her young men are now 24, 18, 15, and 12. She has won multiple national awards for her Lead-poisoning prevention advocacy work (including two from U.S….

Unifix Math Counting Blocks Teaching Aid from Portland Public Schools: 1330 ppm Cadmium [a known carcinogen.]

Unifix Math Counting Blocks Teaching Aid from Portland Public Schools: 1330 ppm Cadmium [a known carcinogen.]

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A school teacher with Portland Public Schools (in Oregon) anonymously gave me these small plastic snap-together UNIFIX math / teaching aid blocks to test.  She initially had a concern that they might contain something toxic and unsafe for children primarily because of how they smell. Here’s an Amazon link to see this product in the…

#AskTamara: Are New Fisher Price Mega Bloks Lead Free?

#AskTamara: Are New Fisher Price Mega Bloks Lead Free?

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Below are the XRF test results for the new (2017) Fisher Price Mega Bloks pictured here. Lead (Pb): Negative / Non-Detect Mercury (Hg): Negative / Non-Detect Arsenic (As):  Negative / Non-Detect Cadmium (Cd): Negative / Non-Detect Tested with an XRF Instrument. All components were tested including each color block and all components of bag (zipper,…