The Pioneer Woman “Willow” pattern ceramic coaster: 1,050 ppm Lead (90+ is unsafe for kids) & 521 ppm Cadmium
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 2009, Tamara has been conducting XRF testing (a scientific testing method) using the exact instrumentation employed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic).
- 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.
- Items that Lead Safe Mama, LLC reports on are tested multiple times to confirm the results published (for each component tested).
- Recent notable press… There has been too much to mention already in 2024! Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!
#1) Focus on yellow flower
- Lead (Pb): 1,050 +/- 121
- Cadmium (Cd): 521 +/- 61 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 4,241 +/- 542 ppm
- Selenium (Se): 166 +/- 60 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 13,800 +/- 600 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 524 +/- 140 ppm
- Bismuth (Bi): 166 +/- 66 ppm
#2) Focus on red flower
- Lead (Pb): 626 +/- 110
- Cadmium (Cd): 99 +/- 57 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 4,161 +/- 674 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 828 +/- 53 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 3,693 +/- 215 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 14,100 +/- 700 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 895 +/- 198 ppm
- Bismuth (Bi): 189 +/- 71 ppm
#3) Focus on blue edge
- Lead (Pb): 403 +/- 63
- Barium (Ba): 8,820 +/- 624 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 139 +/- 50 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 3,220 +/- 184 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 135 +/- 75 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,356 +/- 212 ppm
- Bismuth (Bi): 169 +/- 48 ppm
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Tamara,
Have you found that if one item from a brand is high in Lead, and more, that It’s likely that the rest are made the same? I came specifically to check this brand because my daughter gave me a mug as a gift from it. After reading a post on Deep Roots I began searching my dishes and such for suspects.
Thank you for all you do.
Hi Stephanie,
Most of the colorful ceramics from Pioneer Woman have tested positive for high levels of Lead.
Here’s the Pioneer Woman category on the blog: https://tamararubin.com/category/pioneer-woman/
Here’s how to participate in the testing that I do:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/08/tamara-can-i-send-you-one-of-my-dishes-to-test-for-lead/
Thanks for commenting.
Tamara
Pioneer woman has purple and green glass bowls and cups too. Were these ever tested? Or would these be of concern?
Hi Carrie, thank you for commenting.
I did some testing of products that match what you describe a few years ago and they were Lead-free, however I have not done a full workup of these products and the brand has enough issues that I am not comfortable drawing a conclusion about the Pioneer Woman colored glass items without additional extensive testing.
Tamara
Truly glad I listened to my gut and never purchased any of the pioneer woman over priced garbage.