IF you are going to buy LeadCheck Swabs anyway (and I highly recommend them!, don’t believe the industry folks that tell you they are not effective… they are just trying to take the power to test out of the hands of the consumer!), please consider using this link, which is my Amazon Affiliate link, to purchase them. I will then get a percentage of what you purchase at no extra cost to you, and that helps support my independent advocacy work! Thank you!
Just click here or on the image below!
To read more about LeadCheck Swabs (and appropriate uses), click HERE.
I ordered the instant lead test swabs.
What do you recommend now since these are unavailable?
I would like to know this too! We’ve been feeding our baby meals on our Mexican ceramic dishes because, until today, I always thought ceramic was a safe choice. I didn’t know much about lead and am only learning because of a friend’s kiddo. I would like to test all our artisan ceramics. 🙁
You should get your child tested immediately! Most Mexican ceramic dishes are incredibly dangerous (high levels of leachable / bio available lead):
Read this:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/02/blood-lead-testing-please-get-everyone-in-the-family-tested-since-you-have-been-living-in-a-house-with-high-lead-paint/
Read this too:
https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/when-should-babies-be-tested-for-lead-how-often-should-babies-be-tested-for-lead/
Check this out:
https://tamararubin.com/2020/05/this-post-has-all-of-the-links-to-pieces-i-have-written-about-mexican-pottery-bowls-cups-platters-new-vintage-with-xrf-test-results/
Here’s a test kit that may work on some dishes (aflink): https://amzn.to/3VD5KBw
Watch the film for background too – it’s a crash course in the issue:
https://tamararubin.com/2023/01/a-link-to-my-film/
Tamara
Thank you very much. I already scheduled it. My expert ceramicist friend says these dishes are high-fire and very unlikely to have lead which burns out at a lower temperature. But of course I will be following up!!! I will likely get rid of them regardless. We are so, so careful in all other aspects of our life. We just lost half our house to mold remediation last year because I am a “canary.” I am on constant patrol for microbial threats and endocrine disruptors. Just hadn’t gone down the lead hole yet. The feeling of fighting microscopic zombie s at every turn is getting very, very old.
Definitely watch the film. in 2012 there was an economic impact report done on childhood illness from environmental concerns. They found the cost in the U.S. (with some restricted parameters) to be $76.6 billion annually. Of that $76.6 billion, $50.9 billion of those impacts was from Lead (2/3). All of the other toxicants and environmental concerns together make up 1/2 of the impact of Lead alone (and most people think the lead concern is a thing of the past!)
Hmm. Taking these beloved dishes from my grandmother out to the trash now.
Curious is these are on your radar? These are the dishes we have. They *claim* to be lead free. I will try to send one in.
https://www.kenedwardspottery.com/
Hi, being in Canada, the link you provide is not the right one for me. But the same product is also offered in Amazon Canada. But I cannot click your link to access it and so it cannot give you a percentage as it would if I were in US. So I was just mentioning it in case it would be a good idea for you to share the links of Amazon Canada so that you can get a percentage.
Thank you!
FYI this link leads to a page that says the product is currently unavailable. I’d love to support you by using your link if you have a new one. Thanks!
Same here. It’s strange for a popular item like this to be suddenly unavailable across the board in all sizes.
I too need to order these but it says unavailable.
Please, how do we test our dishes, tea cups, stained glass and also furniture?
Thank you
Tamara have you tested any other swabs? I’m finding that the 3M swabs are still out of stock. Thank you for all your work.
This is best for paint right now – but there is nothing that works well on consumer goods: https://amzn.to/4bLYJVg (aflink)
T