Dear Lee,

Dangers lurk unsuspected in parts of our collections. How did baby boomers, generation Xers and millennials survive the dangerous, often poison-related, bottles, dishes, toys, furniture, advertising collectibles and chemicals considered safe as late as the 1980s, but now known to be dangerous? Take a quick look at your collection and make sure you have removed last century’s hazards.

Get rid of vintage baby cribs with side spindles so close a baby’s head may be caught, or wooden high chairs without seat belts or guards to keep the tray from slamming down. Get the special locks now available for antique blanket chests that will keep children from being locked inside.

Be sure you display your old tin toys that have sharp edges or lead paint so they don’t tempt a baby to try to chew on them. Never eat from dishes that have lead or uranium-based glazes. They are in some old and even some new Mexican pottery, red Fiesta made from 1936 to 1943, and some 1930s and ’40s California pottery. Broken mercury thermometers were the source of hours of fun for baby boomers. The mercury globs danced around in your hand in a most unexpected way, but today’s children should be warned to never handle mercury.

Be very careful if you collect bottles. Wear rubber gloves and clean them in a well-ventilated room, then display them out of the reach of children. Immediately clean and treat any cut caused by glass from a broken bottle. Old medicine and bitters bottles can still have some dangerous contents if exposed to air or water. Some vintage teething lotions for babies contained more than 10 percent alcohol and codeine. Bitters included herbs and drugs like heroine to relieve pain.

Do what earlier parents did. Explain the dangers to your children. Remove the hidden poisons. Store the toys and other attractive culprits where they can’t be reached.