Was This The Most Dangerous Children’s Toy Ever?
In the 1950s you could buy your kid radioactive samples for fun
As a child, I remember reading the warning messages on plastic shopping bags: ‘This bag is not a toy, keep away from children’. I found this statement hilarious. Of course a plastic shopping bag is not a toy.
At the time, I was too young to appreciate the reason for the warning — that anything can be a toy and that toys can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Over the years since, I’ve heard many stories of young children swallowing lego pieces or small batteries, or teenagers causing injury from flying Wii controllers.
But when it comes to truly dangerous toys, you’d struggle to beat the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. Billed as ‘Exciting and Safe’, the kit contained four sealed jars containing actual Uranium ores. Made by the A.C. Gilbert Toy Company, this kit came on the market in 1950 at a price of $49.50 (over $500 in today’s money).
Nowadays, it seems completely unbelievable that a children’s toy like this would be allowed on the market. Let’s have quick look into the story of what could be the most dangerous toy ever.
