To think you don't hand a bag of lead coins to a 5 year old

[Hattymealy]

DS's dad let them go through a bag of ancient coins at his house without knowing what was even in there
there was a few lead coins and lead bag seals and he's let the dc (5 and 9) play with them.
AIBU to think that's ridiculous? Both kids still put everything in their mouth (9 year old asd, 5 year old just sensory issues and puts everything straight in his mouth and constantly is his hands in his mouth)
im really worried about them now and that they've been exposed to lead?
I don't know if I'm over reacting but I absolutely would not give a child lead to play with surely that's unsafe?

Lead is still around in lots of everyday products. It's been banned for water pipes although some still exist and in paint because they lead to regular constant exposure.

But lead in things like costume jewellery, electronics, stained glass, ceramic tiles.... is less likely to be ingested or inhaled through flaked off particles for hours and hours.

Unless either or your children actually ate a coin they will not have been harmed by handling or even licking a lead coin momentarily.

You are overreacting.

Sorry but it's not even something I would think about, your overreacting

Total over reaction.

Jesus Wept.

😂

I think they will live … Don’t worry, just tell your ex not to get the coins out again

Are you sure there was lead coins? There isn't lead, even in ancient coins (except minute amounts).

But please don't worry, exposure to lead needs to be prolonged to be harmful.

Lead poisoning is almost always due to a build up of lead in the body over months or years. A child having a coin with probably trace amounts of lead in their mouth for a few seconds is not going to give them lead poisoning. You are overreacting.

It feels like you are just looking for a reason to be cross with him.

Utterly ridiculous.

Is this serious?

Is this thread a joke?! 😂

Just make sure he doesn't put them in the christmas pudding. They'll be fine.

Coins are not likely to have been made of lead. It's a really soft metal.

What coins? Why would coins be made from lead?

Also, I grew up in a house with lead pipes, I’m fine.

I wouldn't give them to a baby but by 5 I wouldn't expect them to put old coins in their mouth.

I appreciate it would be different with special needs though.

They won’t be coins they’ll be tokens and, as OP said, bag seals. I have loads of old bits of lead and always wash my hands after handling it and especially before eating- old lead can be a bit dusty and degraded and lead is a toxic heavy metal after all.

I’d let older kids handle it but definitely not kids who are likely to put them in their mouths unless unsure direct supervision.

It's not an issue. But how do you know if they even did lick the coins, or are you just catastrophising?

They didn’t usually make ancient coins out of lead, only a few African and Indian ancient kingdoms had lead coinage. You must mean tokens like tesserae? or fake coins that were put on the eyes of slaves for burial?

Yes to lead seals, lots of those existed.

I wouldn’t really worry though, touching and then touching your mouth, occasionally is only going to be minute exposure. Just ask DS dad to ensure they wash their hands after handling these items.

It takes quite a lot of exposure to lead for it to be harmful. They'll be fine. Try not to worry.

Yeah, some of us breathed in lead fumes our entire childhood from leaded petrol! Your DSs will be fine.

You're maybe overreacting a bit to one incident, but YANBU, it's simply not a good idea to let kids who have a tendency to put things in their mouths have small lead items to play with.

The people mocking you are being unfair - lead is a hazardous material.

(I'm a PhD chemist btw.)

Didn’t they used to make toy soldiers from lead?

Bugger. Zombie thread.