California rubberized magnet: 67,300 ppm Lead. 90 ppm (& up) is unsafe. Magnets are not considered to be toys.
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.
Refrigerator magnets should not be considered to be toys unless they are sold as toys (& clearly marked that they are meant to be used by children.)
Refrigerator magnets should not be considered to be toys unless they are sold as toys (& clearly marked that they are meant to be used by children.)When tested with an XRF Instrument this (Made in USA) California map magnet had the following readings:
- Lead (Pb): 67,300 +/- 5,200 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 133 +/- 57 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 9,076 +/- 1,292 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 190,500 +/- 14,000 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 34,900 +/- 2,700 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 420 +/- 106 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 196,200 +/- 15,000 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 70,800 +/- 5,600 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 109,300 +/- 11,000 ppm
Some additional reading for those interested in this post:
- Links for more magnets I have tested.
- Links for more souvenirs I have tested.
- My overview post about the testing that I do (the test results that are reported here on the website).
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
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I had these. I don’t recall where they are. I would have bought them about 1995 or after, if you wanted a date for these. They came from gas stations and truck stops.
Funny how you got my whole childhood up here and I’m still alive 🙂
Please don’t handle those things without gloves. The contaminants can seep into your skin and I always forget and rub my eyes and such. Maybe leather gloves so there isn’t so much waste?
Hi, just wondering if it is the paint/decoration on the front of magnets that most often is the source of lead or whether it is throughout the entire rubberised body?