Heath Ceramic Bowl (#104) Sausalito, California: 226,000 ppm Lead (90 ppm is unsafe for kids)

Introduction (for those new to this website):

Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (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. All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times, to confirm the test results for each component. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023.

When tested with an XRF instrument (for 60-second minimum repeated tests) this Heath Ceramics (of Sausalito, California) bowl (#104) had the following readings:

Food surface center of the bowl (gray/cream glaze):

Lead (Pb): 54,800 +/- 2,000 ppm
Barium (Ba): 1,089 +/- 145 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 44.400 +/- 1,600 ppm
Copper (Cu): 586 +/- 89 ppm
Iron (Fe): 1,261 +/- 250 ppm
Zirconium (Zr): 12,500 +/- 600 ppm
Manganese (Mn): 3,418 +/- 453 ppm

Dark green edge of bowl:

Lead (Pb): 226,000 +/- 14,000 ppm
Barium (Ba): 8,127 +/- 778 ppm
Selenium (Se): 331 +/- 210 ppm
Bromine (Br): 388 +/- 138 ppm
Tin (Sn): 199 +/- 122 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 88,900 +/- 5,300 ppm
Copper (Cu): 25,900 +/- 1,600 ppm
Iron (Fe): 1,716 +/- 283 ppm

Note: the year of manufacture of this piece is unknown. I expect it to be greater than 10 years old (in 2020). If I get some additional information about this piece I will update the post accordingly,