As part of my continuing quest to make every possible parenting mistake, I may have just bought my 6 year old son a toy containing lead.
It was a Beyblade burst which arrived on Friday and I gave to him on Saturday. I didn't think too much about the metal weight disc until today but after feeling the weight of the thing I started getting suspicious. It was very heavy for the size.
I checked if it was magnetic and it wasn't.
I then tried rubbing it on some paper and it left a faint grey mark.
I went back to the original listing on amazon (here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PKLS6B3/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_3p_dp_1) and noticed that it's not actually a Beyblade but made by a company called BXE instead. After some googling I found this:
http://www.startribune.com/state-bans-certain-small-toys-for-excessive-lead/565479802/
The not-beyblade is now hidden downstairs and my son is balling his eyes out. Two questions:
1. Is there anyway I can confirm it is lead?
2. How do I report this to amazon and make sure they contact other buyers of this product? Should it be reported anywhere else?
Apologies for going off on a tangent, but isn't the metal weight enclosed in a housing?
No, no housing. Bare metal.
Lead is a very, very soft metal - can you cut into it with a knife. Can you break a small piece to see the structure of the metal - is it smooth or more crystalline? More crystalline may mean it's possible a zinc alloy like mazak - the stuff used to make die cast toys. Plenty of more specific tests for lead - sulphuric acid or melting it!
Well, I took a set of side cutters to it to see how soft it is and it turns out not very soft but quite brittle. Part of it broke off revealing a dull crystalline structure.
So it sounds like it's most likely a zinc alloy then?
Lead is pretty expensive... I doubt they'd use it in a cheap toy.
Lead is far too expensive. Just beaten to it
If it's lead it will weigh over 11g per cc, alloys will be around 7g. If you have scales that weigh to the nearest 1g that will probably be close enough. Weigh it, then fill an eggcup or something with water, right to the top, then submerge it, catch and weigh the water it displaces.
Lead is pretty expensive… I doubt they’d use it in a cheap toy.
Lead seems to make it's way into a lot of toys sold through amazon though.
https://www.insider.com/amazon-selling-toxic-toys-lead-poisoning-2019-8
Beyblade.... More plastic shite.
If it’s lead it will weigh over 11g per cc, alloys will be around 7g. If you have scales that weigh to the nearest 1g that will probably be close enough. Weigh it, then fill an eggcup or something with water, right to the top, then submerge it, catch and weigh the water it displaces.
Tried that but it's too small to say for sure. The part weighs 19g and the water showed 1g the first time I tried and 2 g the second time. Need more accurate scales, I reckon.
You'll likely not find it in metallic form. More commonly it will be in the paints used. Even then it is expensive compared to the modern alternatives as no one (of the big manufacturers) is really using it much anymore.
In this case though
http://www.startribune.com/state-bans-certain-small-toys-for-excessive-lead/565479802/
the implication is that it's the metal weight disc that is the source of the lead.
Sounds like the metal is a zinc-based alloy but you might still have the worry of lead-based paints
Has someone re-invented Battling Tops?
