Published: October 12, 2020
Updated: April 13, 2022
Cadmium is considered unsafe for children at 40 ppm & up.
Internationally, there are a variety of limits for Cadmium content in items intended for use by children (with the range depending both on product type and location of the legislation), however there is not one single federal limit for total (XRF-detectable) Cadmium content in consumer goods in the United States. In Washington State consumer goods that test positive for Cadmium at levels of 40 ppm and higher may be considered unsafe for children. In Denmark the national limit for Cadmium-content in consumer goods has been set at 75 parts per million. Cadmium is a known carcinogen, which means it is known / well studied / documented and shown to cause cancer in humans.
But is this REALLY a problem?
If you have people in your life who don’t think this is a problem, and who might insist on continuing to use a product like this, I encourage you to read and share the following links:
- This is a link to a study that was done in England in 2017. It discusses the concern for Lead and Cadmium containing painted decorative elements – specifically on the outside of glassware items intended for beverage consumption (like the glass pictured in this post.)
- This article discusses the concern of Lead (& Cadmium) in functional food use dishware from a broader perspective.
- This article discusses how much Lead it takes to poison a human.
- This article discusses how much Cadmium it takes to poison a human.
- This article addresses the “I used this product and look – I turned out FINE” argument.
Full XRF Test Results For The Glass Pictured
Reading #1) on the painted Mickey Mouse:
60-second reading
- Cadmium (Cd): 949 +/- 34 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 3,638 +/- 263 ppm
- Selenium (Se): 882 +/- 36 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 6,348 +/- 153 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 183 +/- 44 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 467 +/- 41 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 3,071 +/- 118 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 329 +/- 127 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 9,264 +/- 575 ppm
Reading #2) on the clear glass elements of the glass:
60-second reading – no metals detected
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them in person – as soon as I have moment (which may not be right away as I have my lead-poisoned kiddos underfoot most of the time!)
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC
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. Tamara’s sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in August of 2005. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. Tamara uses 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 tested and reported on. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.
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