So I bought an 8-pack of 3M lead check swabs back when I first opened and I'd also just inherited a lot of furniture, some of which was painted. I checked the walls in the house and I checked the furniture, and the only thing that showed up with lead in it was a battered short bookcase, which I moved out to the shed to store my great-grandfather's stained glass supplies (lots of lead there!).

Last week, I pulled out a pendant I bought in the '90s. It's cheap and goth and my favorite piece of jewelry. It suddenly occurred to me that, 15-20 years ago, that pendant got severely bent, but I was able to easily bend it right back into its original shape. And I thought, that's bad. So I ordered another pack of the swabs, and this evening I dug out all of my '90s grunge and goth costume jewelry. Half a dozen of the pieces turned the swabs blood red.

Lead, as we know, causes brain damage, developmental delays, and behavioral problems when people are exposed to it in early childhood. Lead particles are too large to pass through the skin but they are ingested when kids touch something containing lead and then stick their fingers into their mouths. (Or, of course, when they mouth something containing lead.) My junky old jewelry didn't pose a threat to my daycare kids, but I'm glad to have it out of the house.

The EPA doesn't currently have a policy and disposal method for lead-contaminated household items like jewelry. If your trash is not incinerated, go ahead and throw anything you're concerned about into the garbage.

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A lot of old jewelry (especially costume) and knickknacks have lead in it because it casts easy, bonds easy with many other metals, and is cheap.

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