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A vintage military-style trunk she bought at an eastern Michigan flea market when she was a teenager became a staple of Jennifer Poupard's life.

Poupard, now 37, originally bought it to store her CDs. Over the years, the trunk — styled with leather handles and metal buckles — served as a container for shoes, as a coffee table and as a resting place for a record player.

When her child, Wallace, was born in 2013, it was put to a new use.

"[Wallace] would pull the stand at that trunk and turn around and run to me," Poupard said. "And that is around when I noticed the numbers going up."

The numbers that went up were Wallace's blood lead levels.

Poupard was participating in the food assistance program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) in Chicago at that time, which required Wallace to receive regular blood lead tests.

In 2014, Wallace's 18-month lead check came back as 5.3 micrograms per deciliter. At the time, the Centers for Disease Control's reference level was 5 micrograms per deciliter. The CDC lowered that threshold to 3.5 in October 2021.

After consulting with other moms in an online Facebook group, Poupard began to believe her beloved heirloom might be the culprit.

Vintage products purchased at thrift stores or antique shops were often made decades ago – long before current federal regulations on toxic substances went into effect.

Lead paint is regularly found in vintage items more than 40 years old, but sales of these items aren't regulated, and many buyers aren't aware of the threat the neurotoxin poses when they bring second-hand finds into their homes.

Lead paint and lead pipes are cited as the top risks of lead exposure to children. Poisoning from consumer goods and antiques is rare. Still, state health department websites for Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska warn about the dangers of lead in hand-me-down furniture, old ceramics and antique toys.