Vintage Plastic

“Is MY Tupperware toxic?” (Images included for each item tested & linked to test results for Mercury, Lead, Arsenic, & Cadmium)

For those new to this website: Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used…

Red Tupperware Mug and Saucer, Year Unknown: Red plastic elements are negative for Lead, Mercury, Cadmium & Arsenic.

To see more Tupperware items I have tested, click here. The saucer of this set was sent to me for testing. The only consideration with this that my readers really need to be aware of is that I have not tested the white decorative element on the mug and cannot know without testing if that…

#AskTamara: How can I tell if my vintage Tupperware plastic cups are toxic? By Color? By Shape? By Age?

New post! First in a series of four that I will be doing to try to draw some distinctions between the Tupperware pieces WITH toxicants (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic) and those without. If you have any information or links to help inform this conversation (for example information about years made for certain model numbers?)…

Tupperware | Vintage | Vintage Fisher Price | Vintage Plastic | Vintage Tupperware

Why do VINTAGE plastics (like Fisher Price & Tupperware) often contain Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, & Cadmium?

For starters, please consider reading this linked study (click the image below) which discusses this concern in detail: There are two reasons vintage plastics often have Lead: In brightly-colored vintage plastics, the metallic toxicants (Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, and Cadmium) are often used as components of colorants in the plastics. I have also found that vintage flexible/pliable…

Scientific research paper from 2015 confirming the presence of toxicants in vintage plastics.

For those in the Tupperware camp who just can’t believe that there are toxic heavy metals in their vintage plastic dishes, I share this with you. Below is a link to a research paper from 2015 which confirmed the presence of heavy metals in vintage plastics (specifically looking at vintage plastic toys). This is a…

Vintage Tupperware BROWN bowl: Negative for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic!

Vintage Tupperware YELLOW bowl: 2,677 ppm Cadmium + 15 ppm Mercury (both are extremely poisonous to humans)

Vintage Tupperware GREEN bowl: 2,780 ppm Lead + 234 ppm Arsenic (both metals are poisonous to humans)

Vintage Radio Shack Phone: 1,850 ppm Lead. Remember these things? [Phones? Radio Shack?!]

This vintage Radio Shack brand phone had the following readings when tested with an XRF instrument: Lead (Pb): 1,850 +/- 43 ppm Cadmium (Cd): Non-Detect (Nd) Arsenic (As): Non-Detect (Nd) Mercury (Hg): Non-Detect (Nd) Antimony (Sb): 190 +/- 28 ppm Barium (Ba): Non-Detect (Nd) Chromium (Cr): Non-Detect (Nd) Selenium (Se): Non-Detect (Nd) People often hold on…

1984 Vintage Fisher Price Little People Yellow School Bus: 2,953 ppm Lead + 344 ppm Arsenic. Did you have this one?

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Yellow School Bus Toy, c. 1984. Yellow & Red Plastic. To see more vintage Fisher Price items I have tested, click here. The XRF test results for this exact item (pictured above) are as follows: Yellow Plastic of School Bus: (tested for a minimum of 60 seconds) Lead (Pb): 2,953 +/- 59 ppm…

And the winner is…. Click here to see the full XRF test results for the vintage Fisher Price Garage!

The other day we had a little contest… who could guess the closest Lead reading (in ppm) for what the highest Lead level on this vintage Fisher Price toy garage / downtown set would be? THE ANSWER: The highest Lead level was 1,959 ppm (in the yellow plastic) and the winner (with a guess of…

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Downtown Garage Set, A Game!: Guess how much Lead ???

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Dowtown Garage Set. Year of Manufacture Unknown (presumed c. 1970s). Click here to see this post on Facebook. Posted: November 28, 2018, 8:15 p.m. We’re playing a GAME! Here’s the game: Guess how much lead is in this vintage Fisher Price garage? Here’s a link* to the prize that will…

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Wooden Boy With Red Hat: 4 ppm Lead, 75 ppm Cadmium and 19 ppm Mercury.

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Yellow Wooden Boy With Red Baseball cap. Body: Painted Wood. Head: Painted Plastic. Hat: Red Plastic. Year of Manufacture Unknown (presumed c. 1970s). To see more vintage Fisher Price items I have tested, click here. The XRF test results for this exact item (pictured above) are as follows: Red Plastic…

XRF [Heavy Metals] Test Results for Vintage Fisher Price Little People Red Wooden Boy With Yellow Pot On Head

Vintage Fisher Price Little People Red Wooden Boy With Yellow Pot On Head. Painted Wood & Yellow Plastic. Year of Manufacture Unknown (presumed c. 1970s). To see more vintage Fisher Price items I have tested, click here. The XRF test results for this exact item (pictured above) are as follows: Yellow Plastic Pot: Lead (Pb):…