Tiny Brass “Handcast” Tibetan Meditation Bowl: 56,400 ppm Lead (this is a very typical amount of Lead for yellow brass!)

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For those new to this 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 sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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When tested with an XRF instrument, this tiny Tibetan hand-cast meditation bowl was positive for 56,400 ppm Lead. That’s 5.6% Lead.

Continue reading below the image.

“Handcast Meditation Bowl Box: This handcart bowl is made with a special four-metal alloy that produces a powerful harmonic resonance when rung. Each bowl is hand-tuned and has a unique sonic voice print. The sonic bath of a meditation bowl is conducive to yoga, massage, bodywork, and other restorative modalities.”

I detected nine separate metals in this bowl; I wonder which four metals they have in mind. Hmmm, let’s see…

The four largest constituent metals by % here are:

• Copper – 57%
• Zinc – 31%
• Lead – 5.6% (yikes!)
• Tin – 4.1%

Here’s the full XRF reading set for the bowl pictured here:

1. Lead (Pb): 56,400 +/- 1,300 ppm
2. Antimony (Sb): 793 +/- 173 ppm
3. Tin (Sn): 41,200 +/- 700 ppm
4. Zinc (Zn): 314,500 +/- 2,500 ppm
5. Copper (Cu): 571,600 +/- 3,100 ppm
6. Nickel (Ni): 7,949 +/- 463 ppm
7. Iron (Fe): 6,006 +/- 487 ppm
8. Silver (Ag): 240 +/- 72 ppm
9. Magnesium (Mn): 759 +/- 325 ppm

What I think is a crack-up (personally this has me laughing) is that many bowls like this use the “4 metals” or “7 metals” factoid as a selling point (of course without bothering to mention Lead anywhere in their advertisements or literature!). Here’s an example of a similar product on Amazon*: https://amzn.to/2Vw8DUZ

Here’s a version of the product that appears to be the exact same product with the box in a different color: https://amzn.to/2RvzzVM

I would personally not let my children play with an item like this and if I touched it I would be certain to wash my hands after doing so.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading and for sharing these articles.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

*Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of these links I may receive a small percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you. With many items (like the bowl pictured here), the links to similar items available on Amazon are only shown for INFORMATIONAL purposes. I do not recommend that you purchase this product — in fact, I discourage you from purchasing this product.