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 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
Introduction
For each article I write, there are category keyword tabs at the top of the page. Each of those words is a link to the category, and you can get to that category overview (to see all the articles in that category) anytime, by clicking on any of those words. I am working on writing summary pieces for each category (like this one), so readers will be able to see all the articles written for some of the more popular categories on the website, easily (at a glance). This is my first attempt at this, so feedback is welcome. Please let me know if these summary pieces are helpful. Thank you!
And without further ado… my school hose-related articles (each numbered line below is a link to a piece with photos and more information, including — in most articles — XRF test results for the item discussed):
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- To start, here’s the whole category of hose-related articles.
- Modern Black & Silver Hose Spray Nozzle: 26,900 ppm Lead
- 2017 Walmart Brass Hose Nozzle: 39,500 ppm Lead
- Vintage Hose Bibb Handle: 1,615 ppm Lead
- Vintage Brass Hose Nozzle: 28,900 ppm Lead
- Hose from California: 22,300 ppm Lead
- A hose from Oregon: 741 ppm Lead
- 2017 Walmart Hose: 52 ppm Lead in green plastic
- Made in USA (Oregon, actually!) hoses
- Purple Lead-free hose with stainless steel hardware (Made in the USA)!
As always, thank you for reading.
Thank you for being here, and thank you for sharing this work!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Tamara:
I have been following your posts for several years now and have been a childhood lead poisoning coordinator in South Georgia for over 11 years.
I have investigated and found lead in all kinds of things over the years, as you well know, but the garden hose is one thing I never knew!!! Thanks for posting and helping me to restructure my lead investigations, including expanding my screening questions to custom fit each different case. Lead based paint dust may still be the number one route of exposure in children, but it should never be assumed. It could be part of it, but not the only route of exposure! It is important to keep looking and checking everything a child puts in their mouth. So…thank you for keeping all of us Public Health investigators updated on all the places “where lead hides”!!!!
Thank you for commenting, Maria. Comments like this really make my day.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions you are trying to answer that you need help with (especially mystery exposure sources.) This one (link: https://tamararubin.com/2019/12/this-crystal-juice-glass-was-likely-the-source-of-a-boys-mysterious-lead-poisoning-the-glass-is-351400-ppm-lead-90ppm-is-illegal-in-kids-items/ ) was a particularly upsetting discovery from a while back (with a kiddo who lived-in a new construction home.)
Tamara