A Good Way to Ruin Your Childhood

Testing Toxicity of Children's Toys

Intro-

Recently, I have been using the machine to investigate chemicals in children’s toys. As part of the CPSIA, XOS created the HD Prime Analyzer to investigate this topic. I chose to take a closer look at a toy car, Legos, play dough (not the actual brand), and plastic toy handcuffs. I went in believing the handcuffs, which were made in China, would hold the highest content of toxins. I as well believed the play dough would be the safest seeing as kids are most likely to put it in their mouths. What I found was very surprising results.

Toy Car-

The toy car, Hotwheels brand, was the first toy investigated. I checked it off as a metal toy and ran an analysis. What I found was the toy showed no threats chemically (If we are talking about the wheels, then there is serious physical harm. Those things really hurt when they pinch you).

Play Dough-

Remember as a kid when you used to make delicious looking Play Dough pizzas and then bite into them only to realize it tasted like complete garbage. Well even if you never did that, I still remember. When doing an analysis on a generic brand I found frightening results: 87815 ppm of Cl. Cl is one of the eight tested toxic elements and in this product it failed with flying colors (red to be exact). Beware: DO NOT LET KIDS MAKE ANY FOOD OUT OF PLAY DOUGH!

Handcuffs-

I hated toy handcuffs as a kid! Not because I used to accidentally chain myself to the table, but because they never worked and bruised my wrists. Because they looked like they were bought at some dollar store and were made in China, I believed they had to packed with lead and who knows what else. Yet when I tested them, they were clean. I guess I really need to end my grudge with my least favorite toy.

Legos-

My favorite toy ever! One time I built the Star Wars Lego edition of Cloud City. It was the coolest set I ever had. I want to kill myself now. If I never had opened it then it would be worth over $1000 now! Anyways, I happily put my childhood pride into the machine and practically cried when I read the results: 52.6 ppm of Sb. This is not the worse reading, but it could be a little safer. Do you know how many Lego blocks I swallowed as a kid (I’m sure that the Sb probably wasn’t the worst reason I shouldn’t have been eating them, but still!)?