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How to Check Your Child's Toys for Lead

Lead poisoning remains a major public health concern, especially for children. Although the use of lead paint in homes, toys, cookware and other items was banned in the United States in 1978, lead is still used in plastics and is used widely abroad. Toys remain a potent source of lead, and preventing dangerous lead exposure is a matter of keeping track of product recalls, knowing which toys are likely to contain lead, and removing or professionally testing suspicious toys.

Things You'll Need

  • Lead-testing kit
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Instructions

  1. Checking Recalls

    • 1

      Check the Consumer Product Safety Commission website for the latest toy recalls. The CPSC site has up-to-date information on new recalls.

    • 2

      Compare your child's toys with the recall list.

    • 3

      Follow the recall directions. When the CPSC recalls an item, the agency also includes specific instructions and contact information for returning it.

    Home And Professional Testing

    • 4

      Sort the child's toys and remove the ones most likely to contain lead. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, toys most likely to contain lead include those passed down through generations (before lead paint was banned in 1978) and toys imported from foreign countries.

    • 5

      Buy a lead-testing kit. Home-testing kits can be purchased online and at major retail stores. Their accuracy, however, is questionable, and they do not say how much lead a product contains. Some kits test only for lead on the surface.

    • 6

      Take the items you suspect to have lead to a professional laboratory for testing. The National Lead Information Center offers consumers advice on where to find local laboratories.

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