SAN DIEGO -- They are colorful and fun for kids, but some parents are now worried a new generation of lunch boxes could be harmful.

Children rely on their parents to pack them a healthy lunch each day in a lunch box that is also healthy and safe.

However, some lunch boxes are not healthy or safe.

“It was actually horrifying to me that the food could contain lead from their lunch boxes,” said Robyn Bailis-Sirota.

When Bailis-Sirota first learned that some of these vinyl lunch boxes contained lead, she went and tested her children’s lunch boxes. She said she found lead and has been a mom on a mission ever since.

“Every school and preschool should have warning programs to make sure lunch boxes don’t contain lead that can seep into children’s food,” said Bailis-Sirota.

Lead the equivalent of six grains of sugar can cause permanent brain damage in children.

“Tiny amounts have affects on children’s health. It causes learning disabilities, hyper-activity and aggressive behavior,” said Leticia Ayala of the Environmental Health Coalition.

The EHC keeps track of lead poisoning and said lead in lunch boxes are one way kids can be poisoned.

“Lead is added to vinyl as a stabilizer. There’s no way to know it’s there. You would have to test it to detect it,” said Ayala.

10News tested lunch boxes purchased from Target, Ross, Mervyns and a 98-Cent Store.

10News’ testers examined the lunch boxes using lead test swabs that can be bought in most paint stores. If the swab turns pink or red, that indicates a lead presence.

10News took their lunch box tests to Dewey Elementary School in Point Loma, where Principal Vera Valdivia and her students awaited the results.

Out of 15 lunch boxes tested, only one tested positive. A tester turned pink when testing the outer vinyl flap on a bag from Ross.

“I’m actually going to let parents know we did some testing and we have kits for parents to test,” said Valdivia.

Lead test kids are available at most paint and home improvement stores.

UPDATE: 10News contacted Ross stores and they said they will pull some of their vinyl lunch boxes from shelves.

However, 10News investigators returned to find the bag still being sold in stores.

In a news release, Ross said they would suspend further sales of the totes until they recieve test results from the product supplier.

San Diego's Environmental Health Coalition wants lead banned in these consumer products.

"It's great that Ross is taking these off of the shelf, but it should not have taken 10News to expose the problem for this particular problem," said Diane Takvorian of the Environmental Health Coalition.

For more information, visit Center for Environmental Health: Lead in Children’s Lunch Boxes.