9 Common 1970s Things You Won’t Find in Florida Anymore Because Society Banned Them

Life in the 1970s looked a lot different than it does today. People wore bell-bottoms, listened to records, and drove around in big cars without seat belts.

But not everything from the groovy decade stuck around; the government stepped in and banned certain things because they were dangerous or unhealthy.

How many of these things from the ’70s do you remember being alive and kicking before they got the boot?

Lawn Darts

Lawn darts, also called “Jarts,” were a popular backyard game in the 1970s. The game was simple—throw large, heavy darts into plastic rings on the ground.

Sounds fun, right?

The problem was that these darts had sharp metal tips and were about a foot long. If someone missed their target, that dart could easily land on a person instead of the grass.

Sadly, that’s exactly what happened.

Between 1936 and 1978, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that lawn darts had caused over 6,100 hospital visits, many of them involving children. After a tragic accident that killed a 7-year-old girl in 1987, public pressure grew, and the government finally banned the sale of lawn darts in 1988.

Even though the official ban didn’t happen until the late ’80s, the movement to get rid of them began in the 1970s. Many stores stopped selling them early because parents were already realizing how dangerous they were.

Leaded Gasoline

Back in the 1970s, most cars ran on leaded gasoline. That means the gas had a chemical called tetraethyl lead mixed in to help engines run smoothly.

The problem?

Lead is super harmful to humans—especially kids. Breathing in lead fumes from car exhaust could lead to brain damage, learning problems, and even death in extreme cases.

In 1973, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started phasing out lead in gasoline. It wasn’t banned all at once, but they made rules that slowly forced gas stations and car companies to switch to unleaded fuel.

By 1996, leaded gas was fully banned for on-road vehicles in the U.S., but most of the work to stop it started in the ’70s.

The decision to ban leaded gas made a big difference. According to a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, lead levels in children’s blood dropped 94% between 1976 and 2008.

That’s a huge win for public health and one of the reasons why we don’t smell that oddly sweet-scented exhaust anymore.

Cigarette Ads on TV and Radio

If you watched TV or listened to the radio in the early 1970s, you definitely heard a few cigarette commercials. Brands like Marlboro and Camel were everywhere, with catchy jingles and cool-sounding voices.

Smoking was seen as normal—even stylish. But scientists were learning more and more about how dangerous cigarettes were.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act. It banned cigarette ads from being shown on TV and radio starting January 2, 1971. That meant the night of January 1, 1971, was the last time you could see a cigarette ad on American TV.

The law was one of the first big steps to cut down on smoking. Over time, more rules followed, like warning labels and banning smoking in public places.

But the ad ban was the beginning of the end for smoking’s cool image on screen.

Flammable Kid’s Pajamas

Back in the 1970s, some kids’ pajamas were made from materials that could easily catch fire. That may sound like a disaster waiting to happen—and it was.

These synthetic fabrics, like rayon and brushed nylon, would go up in flames if they got too close to a heater, candle, or stove.

The government took action in 1972. The Flammable Fabrics Act was updated to include specifics for children’s sleepwear, including that children’s PJs up to a size 6X must be made of flame-resistant material or be tight-fitting enough not to catch fire easily.

Thanks to that rule, you won’t find any super-flammable PJs in stores today.

Parents got a little peace of mind, and manufacturers had to rethink their fabric choices.

Asbestos in Homes

If your house was built in the 1970s or earlier, there’s a chance it had asbestos in the walls, ceilings, or floors. Asbestos was used because it was fireproof, cheap, and great at insulating buildings.

The problem? Tiny asbestos fibers can float through the air and get into your lungs, leading to serious illnesses like mesothelioma and lung cancer.

People in the 1970s didn’t know just how dangerous it was until more workers in construction and shipbuilding started getting sick. In 1973, the EPA banned asbestos spray-on insulation, and more bans followed after that.

By the late ’70s, using asbestos in most home-building products was no longer allowed.

That said, it wasn’t until March 2024 that the last use of asbestos was officially banned in the United States. Nevertheless, many of the worst uses of it were stopped in the 1970s.

That’s why home renovations on older houses sometimes need special teams to remove it safely.

Candy Cigarettes

Yep, candy cigarettes were a thing. Kids in the 1970s could buy little white sugar sticks that looked just like the real thing. Some even came in fake cigarette packs.

There were also chocolate candy cigarettes wrapped in paper that “smoked” powdered sugar when you blew on them.

Over time, Americans learned that the message such candy sent to kids was problematic.

Doctors and parents started worrying that giving kids candy cigarettes made smoking seem normal—or even cool. Studies showed that kids who used candy cigarettes were more likely to try real cigarettes later on.

So, many states began banning them.

While candy cigarettes are still sold in some places, many U.S. stores stopped carrying them in the 1970s and 1980s.

And good luck finding them at a major grocery store today—they’re mostly gone, and for good reason.

DDT Pesticide

DDT (short for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was a pesticide used all over the place in the early 1970s. Farmers sprayed it on crops, and it was even used in neighborhoods to kill mosquitoes.

People thought it was a miracle chemical. Then scientists started noticing some big problems.

DDT didn’t just kill bugs—it hurt birds and fish, too. It made bird eggshells so thin that they would break before hatching. Bald eagles, ospreys, and peregrine falcons started disappearing.

Equally troubling, DDT could build up in the food chain, making animals (and even people) sick. In 1972, the EPA banned DDT in the United States for most uses.

That ban helped many bird species bounce back. Bald eagle numbers, for example, went from fewer than 500 nesting pairs in 1963 to over 71,000 in 2021. Talk about a comeback!

Unsafe Toys

Some 1970s toys were fun for kids but undeniably dangerous. There were toy ovens that got hot enough to burn you, darts with metal tips (remember lawn darts?), and even toy guns that shot plastic missiles.

Back then, safety testing wasn’t as strict as it is now, and lots of kids got hurt.

In response, the government created better rules. In 1972, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Act, which led to the creation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). This group made sure that toys and other products were tested and labeled correctly before being sold.

Thanks to those new safety standards, a lot of risky toys were banned or redesigned.

Today, toys go through way more checks before they end up on store shelves—and that’s something most parents can appreciate.

Phosphates in Laundry Detergent

In the 1970s, laundry detergents were loaded with phosphates. These chemicals helped clothes get clean, but they caused big problems when they washed down the drain.

Phosphates made algae grow like crazy in rivers and lakes, which used up oxygen in the water and killed fish and other wildlife.

Environmental groups raised the alarm, and several states started banning phosphates in household cleaners. The bans began in the mid-1970s, and companies had to come up with safer formulas.

By the 2010s, many U.S. states had joined in, and phosphate-free detergents are now mostly the norm.

The switch was better for nature and didn’t really change how clean clothes got.

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