So, I think it's really funny that everyone seems to be forgetting that even though Yunzi stones contain lead in them, the lead is only harmful if you ingest it. To do so, you must either swallow the stone (and if that hopes your more likely to die of asphyxiation than lead poisoning) or you must grind the stones into a powder and ingest the powder. Both of these things are something no sane human being would probably do. Parents worried about the adverse health effects of go stones should probably remember that the go stones look like m and m's and thus will be eaten by their children if left in an easy to reach place - lead or no lead. What's more, I think it's also worth noting that breakfast cereals have iron and zinc in them, but people still eat them. So long as the potentially harmful substances are kept to a healthy level, there shouldn't be any issues.

What's more, I think it's also worth noting that breakfast cereals have iron and zinc in them, but people still eat them. So long as the potentially harmful substances are kept to a healthy level, there shouldn't be any issues.

If there's a serious risk of a child eating the actual go stones, maybe they're too young to start playing in the first place.

On a somewhat related note, I was told a great way to deter some pesky children from your Go table. My grandfather would tie some balloons around their game area so when my mom would lurk, he'd pop one and scare her off. It was probably a positive technique vs his opponents too. Balloon tesuji!

This is stupid and dangerous advice. The body needs iron (e.g. for red blood cells) so some cereals are reinforced with it so we get enough. The body doesn't need lead, it has no known physiological use in the body and is poisonous, particularly for children.

My advice is to not ingest substances to point where they poison you. That is by no means stupid or dangerous. In my previous post in this thread there was not a single place where I said, implicitly or explicitly, that anyone under any circumstances should ingest lead. Admittedly, my example in your quote wasn't worded as well as it could have been nor was it the best example I could have used to prove my point; however, that does invalidate the rest of what I said nor does that make what I'm saying stupid.

I bought "Yunzi Stones" from Yellow Mountain Imports as a gift for my young children, so we can play baduk together. Later on after ordering, I saw online that this kind of stone can contain lead.

So when my order arrived I got a lead test kit from the local hardware store to check them for safety. It turns out that the stones sent to me did contain lead. This is unsafe for my children to use and maybe me too. It's not responsible for Yellow Mountain to be selling these stones to people. The page on their website doesn't say anything about lead even though I read that they already had this problem for many years http://chiyodad.blogspot.com/2008/01/le ... tones.html

Why do they keep selling them if they can't guarantee their safety for children? I think it's very unreasonable and possibly even illegal in the US.

I wanted to write my experience here to warn people that if you've also bought these stones from Yellow Mountain that they're not safe, especially for children. Also to advise people not to deal with this company because they're untrustworthy.

I'm very disappointed and unhappy with this experience and won't be doing business with Yellow Mountain again. Can anyone please recommend a better store where I can order some replacement stones that aren't polluted?

J Lee