2017 Walgreens Ceramic Christmas “Not Intended For Children” Santa Mug: 1,657 ppm Cadmium (40 ppm is unsafe)

For those new to the Lead Safe Mama website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since July of 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for five product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
• All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
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This 2017 Santa Mug (which I personally purchased last holiday season from a Walgreens in Milwaukie, Oregon once I saw the label on the bottom — scroll down to see a pic!) was positive for Lead and cadmium at the following levels:

Red Glaze:
Lead (Pb): 122 +/- 54 ppm
Cadmium (Cd): 1,657 +/- 105 ppm

White Glaze:
ND (non-detect/ negative) for: Lead (Pb), Arsenic (As), Mercury (Hg), and Cadmium (Cd)

This item was tested with an XRF instrument for a minimum of 30 seconds (in consumer goods mode). Multiple tests were completed to confirm the levels.

By modern standards, the amount of Lead considered toxic in an item intended for children’s use is 90 ppm Lead (or higher) in the glaze or coating and 100 ppm Lead (or higher) in the substrate (in the case of mugs, the ceramic). Cadmium is considered toxic for children at/or above 75 ppm (depending on what standard you look at — sometimes it is considered toxic at/above 40 ppm).

The cadmium level in the red glaze is most likely why this item is labeled: “Not Intended For Children.”

Walgreens, here is a question for you… Once that label is ripped off the bottom (or washed off) what mama wouldn’t use this to give her child hot chocolate? Your labeling is deceptive on an item like this that is clearly in the shape of a holiday icon for children and will be used by children, regardless of what the label says!

Prior to testing this Walgreens-branded mug, I used to say I trusted Walgreens toy selection to be non-toxic. I had never once tested an item intended for children from their stores that was positive for Lead AND I often buy toys there for my children (as inexpensive rewards especially).

At one point I even spoke to one of their executives at a Phish concert (!) and he confirmed they had a strict policy on toxicants in their products, especially their products intended for children. I am now no longer 100% confident about their product selection, as it is crossing a fine line when a company will hide behind labeling standards to cover up toxicants that have been determined unsafe for children (especially on an item that will clearly be used by children, now and decades into the future)!

I will be following up with Walgreens about this a.s.a.p. (I think I might still have that executive’s email address somewhere!). I do expect that when they are made aware of this issue, Walgreens will remove products like this from their shelves. In general, I have found Walgreens to be a reliable company when it comes to issues like this.

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