#TeamWork! Mighty Nest is offering full refunds if you bought (Lead-containing) Paulie Jars from them!

Thank you so much. This is good news – great to hear! I also appreciate the direct communication! (& so will my readers!)

 

After sharing my posts on my social media channels (including sharing your initial response) I have heard from at least three parents who purchased the product from you (to be used by their very young children / toddlers) – where the product they received also had an exposed Leaded sealing dot. [Parents have shared photos with me of their jars.]

 

One parent said she received some of this product and thought there was a metal disk over the Leaded sealing dot – but she was not sure where they were purchased as she received them as a gift. I do want to say that the “solution” of putting a metal sticker (even with a really strong adhesive) over the Lead sealing dot is not sufficient for two reasons: #1) the sealing dot still contains Lead so the product still could not be sold as a Lead-free product and #2) those metal “stickers” (for lack of a better word) often come off – making the Lead accessible again – which should not be something parents should be worrying about.

 

I thank you for your quick and decisive action. I am sorry that you have gotten caught in this net of manufacturers’ ignorance in manufacturing processes and actual materials used. This is a very common problem. I have DOZENS of posts on my blog about items that have been advertised as Lead-free by the manufacturer but actually have a good amount Lead in one or more components (and in most cases that Lead is immediately accessible to children – even though there are some CPSC loopholes that make it somehow “legal” (in some particular applications.))

 

Here is my response and exchange with Paulie Jar yesterday:

 

Here is another Leaded product as an example (for which the CPSC has refused to issue a recall):

 

Please keep me in the loop (and send me a copy of the e-mail you send out to your customers if you are okay with that – and I can publish that on my blog and share it.) My readers LOVE IT when a company acts swiftly and proactively in response to these findings. [I had 1.9 million unique readers in 2019 alone… so it is a big audience – across 200+ countries – per Google Analytics.]

 

I do want to say that (over the weekend) I carefully reviewed the product offerings on your website and I found about 10 items that likely also have Lead in XRF detectable (fairly significant) amounts. I will share those with you as soon as I have a moment to pull that together. Not all of these items have bio-available Lead in components that are accessible to children but they still do have Lead (or potentially have Lead) and should be evaluated so you can reconsider your choice to sell them via Mighty Nest. 

 

You would then need to make a decision if you are going to keep those products as offerings on your website OR if you are going to change the language on your website (which is what many companies I call out end up doing – like Ikea!) 

 

If you chose to make a change to your language the correct and appropriate thing to do would be to remove the claims on your website and in your mission statement (and “about” pages and graphics) that the items you sell are “free of Lead” or “Lead free” or have “no Lead” – and instead not mention Lead OR make a statement that says the products you sell are “Lead Safe” or “do not have Lead in any accessible components at levels that would cause harm.” Of course that is your choice. The high road (from an ethics standpoint / as a political stand to stop supporting the use of Lead and therefore stop supporting the mining, refining and manufacturing of Lead to be used in product development) is to stick with your current languaging and truly remove all of the items with Lead from your virtual shelves.

 

I am an independent advocate and my work is funded and supported primarily by my readers. When you get past any potential shock of this being an inconvenient crisis that you have to deal with (which I acknowledge is a space you might have been in for at least a moment over the past couple of days)… if you are interested in making a contribution in support of my advocacy work there is a GoFundMe up 😉 … of course a contribution is not required, but all support is welcome – especially if you feel this interaction has been valuable in helping your company to adhere to your published standards. http://www.GoFundMe.com/LeadSafeMama

 

If you want to know more about me (or my advocacy work) I encourage you to watch the full 92 minute preview screener of my documentary feature film (with music donated by The Who and Tom Waits and footage of my interview with Noam Chomsky and my presentation with Bernie Sanders in Flint in 2016.) Here’s the YouTube link (there is a final scene in the end-credits about corporate accountability based on consumer demand – so please be sure to watch through to the very end of the credits): https://youtu.be/eRKlaC2EjL0

 

I apologize for the unexpected nature of this situation and acknowledge that it has likely been confronting and not easy for you and – again – I applaud your swift actions.

 

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama