The First Three Fidget Spinners…. Episode 1 (Video!)
So!…
I made an announcement to my friends on Facebook that I wanted to use an XRF instrument to test some examples of the current hottest-toy-on-the-market – “fidget spinners” – for lead.
My friend Johna in Oklahoma was so lovely to send me a handful of them and I tested them as soon as my rental XRF instrument arrived yesterday!.
I really am stupid sometimes…
I mean, it’s human nature to hope for the best… but with all the horror stories I had seen about the toy (kids choking and needing to go to the hospital to have an object surgically removed; kids putting a piece of broken spinner on their finger and almost needing to have their finger removed, etc.) I hoped against hope that these darn things would OF COURSE – GIVEN TODAY’S REGULATORY STANDARDS AND WIDESPREAD ATTENTION/CONCERN ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF LEAD CONTAMINATION IN OUR ENVIRONMENT- be… well…, lead-free!
No.Such.Luck!
Stay tuned for my upcoming video testing spinners that have been taken apart!
You can watch the little video below with the results from the testing of these first three spinners. One tested positive for very high levels of lead (far beyond what is allowed by the CPSC) – and for some mercury as well (I don’t know what the mercury limits are for toys, but I am hoping it is none / zero ppm!)
Carissa and I have a blast hanging out, and it’s been so much fun making these little videos for you! We’re going to be doing a bunch more of the #GuerrillaXRFTesting videos on Monday, so stay tuned in Facebook-Land (and later on this blog) for those videos too!
If you appreciate what we do (our independent / unsponsored advocacy work to test consumer goods for toxicity and share that information with the public) please consider making a contribution on my GoFundMe, so we can keep doing this! [If you work for a company that might be interested in sponsoring these videos… please let us know that too. We’d love an introduction!]
So far (9:30 pm, 5/27) 138 people have donated $4,948 via GoFundMe and I have a short-term goal for the GoFundMe to reach $8,000 (just $3,052 more!) to help pay attorneys fees (hopefully early next week!) Every penny donated helps and counts towards this goal, BUT, if you donate $10 or more on my GoFundMe campaign between now and Monday at noon, I’ll let you choose something (a specific thing of your choosing!) for me to test on our Facebook Live videos on Monday! [For example: “Tamara, please test XYZ dish set at Walmart.”]. Our goal is to go to Walmart, Pier One and maybe Home Depot on Monday to make the next set of videos! So if you bought something recently at one of these stores (or if you were planning on buying something soon) and want to know if it has lead, mercury, cadmium or arsenic – donate $10 or more this weekend and I will test it for you, right on the shelf!
[I’d also love for my Portland friends to stop by with some more fidget spinners to test!]
Thank you for watching! The first video below is about 4 minutes.
[A longer video (13 minutes) with all of the testing in real time is below the first video.]
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can say which brands have what levels?
There are no brands noted in this video. None of the ones we tested had a brand mark or maker.
Can you provide the sample size tested. Was this published? Anything confirmed by other sources.
In short, was anything resembling proper scientific methods applied?
Did you watch any of the videos yet? Your questions are answered there. I actually am doing the testing in real time on most of the videos. https://tamararubin.com/category/fidget-video/