What Chemicals Are Used to Detect Lead in Toys?

Lead is a heavy metal. It is also a poison. Lead poisoning can result from inhaling, swallowing or being in contact with lead substances, often over a period of months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems, especially among children under the age of six. Lead can impact mental and physical development, causing learning disabilities and damage to the kidneys and nervous system.

Chemicals for Lead Testing

• Affordable, trendy, attractive toxic lead threat

  Chemicals used to detect lead include the rhodizonate ion, which produces a pink or red color in the presence of lead, or the sulphide ion, which produces a gray, brown or black color in the presence of lead. Most lead test kits currently available in the market use these chemicals and are referred to as color-change test kits. A powerful chemical detection equipment is the HD 1000. It can distinguish paint layers from base materials.

  Though there is no comprehensive U.S. ban on lead in toys, it is illegal for the paint to contain more than a 0.06 percent concentration of lead. Test kits are available on the Internet and local hardware stores.The price range of such kits is around $9 to $40, as of September 2010. A testing kit usually comes with swabs for applying the reagent. The EPA does not recommend home test kits because they are not reliable enough to tell the difference in high and low levels of lead. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, says that testing by qualified laboratory or trained personnel is the only way to accurately assess the potential risk posed by a consumer product that may contain lead.

  Professional use of XRF technologies for screening of lead in products is recommended. However, these technologies have limited depth of penetration and are only good at detecting surface coatings or platings.

Safe Toys

• Options to metal toys

  The best way to protect your child from lead contamination is by avoiding metallic-coated toys. Buy organic toys instead. If you are not able to buy organic, research the net for safe toys that have been already tested for lead content and can be accessed through region or country safety regulators. Public interest organizations such as the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, have already tested 1,200 items for lead. Healthy Stuff's test results provide consumers with the information they need to make better choices when purchasing toys and other children's products. Avoid painted toys made before 1978, because before lead paint was banned in toys, residential structures and hospitals that year, it was commonly used in paints in the United States. If you detect strong odor in new toys, it could be an indication that the toy has been overcoated. Such toys' paint has the tendency to peel off easily, and you need to get rid of the toy immediately. Choose toys manufactured in the U.S., Canada or the EU. Imported painted toys carry a higher lead risk because lead is less well-regulated in many developing countries.

Recalls and Lead Testing Sites

• If you have already bought a toy and are worried, look up the toy on a recall website such as the CPSC (see Resources). The CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Also consider asking the local health department for lead-testing programs. Such tests are performed in a laboratory with sophisticated instruments that can accurately test the amount of lead present in a submitted sample. Consumers can also send products to a state or EPA-licensed laboratory for analysis. A portion of the object will be weighed and then dissolved in an acid or other dissolving agent. This step enables the lead to be quantified and is the most accurate method of detection. In some parts of the country, such as Columbus, Missouri and San Francisco, free public toy testing is offered. An instant-testing device called a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer is used to determine whether sample toys contain toxic compounds.