Toddler clothing in a cedar chest?

[lingon]

My dd just inherited her great grandmother's cedar chest.  So it's at least 50 years old, but it still smells very strongly of cedar, it claims to keep away bugs for as long as it exists.

I would love to keep her clothes and blankets in it.

I know that cedar shavings cause respiratory problems in chickens and other animals, so it seems to me that it can't be good for her breathing to have cedar-smelling clothes on her body.

The paper on the inside of the lid also says not to store printed documents in there, as the cedar fumes will erase the print.  Wow!  That makes me not want to store her toys or books in there, as well.

Anyone know anything about health-related issues for cedar chests?  I found some old threads, but no useful data.

[cparkly]

I always assumed (as I am prone to do ) that it was the dust from the cedar shavings that caused issues. I may be wrong.

Cedar chests have been used for centuries to store clothing and bedding; they naturally repel fungus and insects and keep damaging UV rays out. The only potential danger that I am aware of is having the heavy lid come down on a child or a child getting closed in the chest (that happened to me as a child), so check out the hinges that are installed and ensure that they are safety hinges if your daughter is small and will have regular access to the chest.