XRF test results for an artificial Christmas tree (c. 1980) from Australia: 19,300 ppm Lead (90 ppm & up is unsafe for kids)

 

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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). 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. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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Below are XRF test results for the tree described here.

This is a faux Christmas tree branch sample sent to me by a reader in Australia. She said it is about 40 years old — which would put it at c. 1980! It has two different color needles in the sample: A dark green and a light green with a brown metal spine. All tests are done for a minimum of 60-seconds each (unless otherwise noted) and repeated multiple times on each component, to confirm the results. Results shared here are accurate, science-based, and replicable. This tree was definitively negative for Mercury, Arsenic, and Antimony.

Needle-only sample test results:
75-second test

• Lead (Pb): 15,200 +/- 400 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 110 +/- 9 ppm
• Selenium (Se): 46 +/- 17 ppm
• Silver (Ag): 10 +/- 4 ppm
• Gold (Au): 145 +/- 39 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 37 +/- 17 ppm
• Indium (In): 18 +/- 8 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 937 +/- 225 ppm

Test with needles and spine in the scope:
60-second test

• Lead (Pb): 19,300 +/- 700 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 107 +/- 14 ppm
• Silver (Ag): 18 +/- 7 ppm
• Palladium (Pd): 12 +/- 5 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 116,900 +/- 3,500 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 650 +/- 267 ppm
• Indium (In): 37 +/- 14 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 683 +/- 244 ppm

How much Lead is “too much” Lead?

Anything 100 ppm Lead or higher in the substrate (the base plastic or metal or other material) of an item intended for use by children manufactured today in the United States or anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint, glaze, or coating (also of a modern item “intended for use by children” manufactured today) is considered illegal, and unsafe for children to handle or play with. This vintage artificial Christmas tree came in at 19,300 ppm Lead in areas that a child could and would easily touch. This was not illegal in 1980, and is not illegal today!* That said, items that children might reasonably come in to contact with SHOULD — as a rule — be entirely negative for Lead (or failing that, at least under 90 ppm). 

With the level of Lead found, I would not consider this tree safe to have in a home under any circumstances (with children or without) and would recommend disposing of it asap.

*Regardless of the year manufactured, artificial Christmas trees are not considered to be “items intended for use by children” and so are have never been regulated for total content of heavy metal toxicants like Lead, Cadmium, and Antimony.

That said, most (but not all) newer artificial Christmas trees (made in the last two or three years, post-2017) are likely — but not guaranteed — to be Lead-free. (If these newer trees are the plug-in pre-lit types, they may instead have unsafe/ high levels of Antimony [which is known to cause cancer in rats]. It’s possible [as with the tree sample in this article, here] that the Antimony is not in the branches of a newer pre-lit tree itself, but only in the electrical cords and lights.)

What should I do for a Christmas tree, then?!!!

In general my advice (across the board) is this:

• Avoid artificial Christmas trees (specifically the faux ones that were designed to look like a real Christmas tree and are made of plastic and metal).
• This past year several of my friends shared pictures with me of wooden “CTSO‘s” (Christmas-tree-shaped-objects) — that they either fabricated or bought; these Lead-free options were equally fun for the kids, and quite functional for displaying ornaments!
• Alternately, I love the idea of using a live potted houseplant in the place of a Christmas tree!
• We are Jewish, and don’t normally have any kind of Christmas tree — but last year my youngest son was so smitten with the idea of having one, I let him buy a small rosemary bush from the grocery store and decorate it for the holidays!

Below are some photos from the tree my friend, Angela made with her family for their Christmas in 2020. She has also offered to make these for sale to my readers, so please let me know if any of you are interested, and I will pass your contact info along to her! Continue reading below the images. Thank you!

Some additional reading for those who are interested:

• Other faux Christmas trees I have tested.
• Other Christmas items I have tested.
• Christmas light strand examples I have tested.
• Details about the testing methodology used for the test results reported on this website.
• Please watch this video about how to most efficiently search the site (if you have not yet seen it)! Thank you!

Thank you for reading and for sharing this work. Please let me know if you have any questions; I will do my best to answer your questions personally as soon as I have a moment (which may take a while as there were 1.165 million readers here on the Lead Safe Mama site in 2020, alone!).

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama