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 5 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!
Update: February 24, 2024
I just had the exchange in the image below with Anfora on Instagram.
Important points to note (in response to Anfora’s comment above):
- Dishes can meet FDA standards (at the time of manufacture) and still be positive for Lead.
- XRF technology measures total Lead content (in the paint, glaze, or coating of an item) not leachable Lead content.
- If Lead is detectable using XRF technology, the item is — by definition — not Lead-free.
- The item may be non-Leaching for Lead (at the time of manufacture) but that does not make the item Lead-free.
- Anfora states (in their above comment on our instagram page) that “We absolutely DO NOT use any lead in our glazes.” This is 100% not true as XRF technology shows the presence of Lead at very high levels, especially in the blue glazed decorative elements of the dish.
- Items intended for use by children are considered illegal if they test positive for Lead (in the paint, glaze or coating of the item) at levels above 90 ppm.
- Both the white background and blue decorative elements of this dish tested positive for Lead at levels far above 90 ppm.
- Unfortunately, it is 100% legal for these dishes to contain Lead (it is not at all illegal), as the relevant U.S. government agencies (the FDA and CPSC) do not consider dishes to be “items intended for use by children.”
- This plate was purchased new in late May or early June of 2021 by a Lead Safe Mama reader, so Anfora’s statement (in the image above) that they used Lead in their glazes in 1980 and earlier is irrelevant.
- The concern for Lead in glazes (even if an item meets FDA standards at the time of manufacture) is for the potential of the dishes to leach Lead after years of daily use. FDA leach testing standards do not take into account the lifetime impacts of a dish when used daily as intended for months, years, or even decades. FDA leach testing only considers the impacts of the dish (whether or not it is leaching Lead) when it is in new (or like-new) condition. Said another way, if a dish has Lead in the glaze and passes leach testing at the time of manufacture, there’s always a chance it might leach Lead in the future — especially with regular, long-term, daily use (including use with hot and acidic foods). You can read more about the concern here.
Published: June 13, 2021
XRF Test results for the Anfora dish (purchased from Pottery Barn, San Francisco and sent in by a Lead Safe Mama reader from New Jersey) pictured here…
#1) Center of food surface for dish — on blue of design
- Lead (Pb): 11,200 +/- 200 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,827 +/- 79 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 598 +/- 162 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 4,246 +/- 103 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 61 +/- 15 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 7,497 +/- 205 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 138 +/- 34 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 16,500 +/- 500 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,209 +/- 139 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 991 +/- 135 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 2,134 +/- 230 ppm
#2) Center of food surface for dish — on blue of design, second test
- Lead (Pb): 15,500 +/- 300 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,963 +/- 92 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 750 +/- 172 ppm
- Silver (Ag): 13 +/- 6 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 4,160 +/- 112 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 116 +/- 18 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 9,883 +/- 276 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 88 +/- 35 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 21,100 +/- 143 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,092 +/- 143 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 688 +/- 123 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 1,675 +/- 216 ppm
#3) Focus on white glazed background on front of dish
- Lead (Pb): 379 +/- 25 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,672 +/- 77 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 4,682 +/- 118 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 292 +/- 35 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 140 +/- 38 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,120 +/- 167 ppm
#4) Focus on white glazed background on back of dish
- Lead (Pb): 40 +/- 13 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,448 +/- 74 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 4,080 +/- 109 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 248 +/- 34 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 132 +/- 39 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,013 +/- 169 ppm
#5) Black back mark/ logo on dish
- Lead (Pb): 1,525 +/- 58 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,678 +/- 83 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 2,245 +/- 510 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 4,737 +/- 129 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 292 +/- 37 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 141 +/- 41 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 166 +/- 72 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 589 +/- 113 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 2,426 +/- 235 ppm
Some additional reading for those interested in this topic
- Here’s an article discussing why Pottery Barn is on our “no fly list” (list of vendors we recommend avoiding).
- Here are some more Pottery Barn pieces we have tested and reported on.
- And some more “Made in Mexico” pieces we have tested and reported on.
- Check out this link to our documentary film, which might help you better understand the context for the concern of Lead in dishware
- And another link with ways you can support the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC (including our independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead poisoning prevention advocacy work).
~ End ~
Additional photos of this item are below:
Wow!! Cannot believe these results I am SO glad I sent this for testing. I was told by THREE different pottery barn associates that these plates were lead FREE. I am boycotting pottery barn. Thank you, Tamara for your amazing work in ensuring we know the real truth of lead levels in our home products 🙂
Oh no. These have been the family dishes for a decade. I wish your work would go mainstream so these stores would stop selling these products.
Thank you.
Can you please explain what this means. That it has lead on the surface? Or when you pulverized it to do the test it had lead. When you Put hot food on these plates the food is now contaminated with lead? I think I am going through the stages of grief here. I have a large collection of these plates. I even imported some of this brand’s (anfora) plates to match this set. How do you not get overwhelmed, Tamara? Im so so sad. These were so expensive too. And my collection is so big u_u
Hi Denise, I bookmarked this discussion because the same thing happened to me. The plates are the same as ones I’ve seen in Mexico and I have a huge set I’ve put into storage. I plan to hang a few on the wall. I may break some of them into pieces and make a mosaic art piece out of them. I understand the grief. Since having some dishes tested by Tamara I have shifted how I look at the dishware I use, and value the non-food-touching ceramics I have like vases and planters. And I look for nice table linens, and stick to boring white plates in nice shapes.
🙁 I have since put them in storage and bought white corelle. I listed them online but no one bought them. I will do what you said and buy nice table cloths and maybe placemats. To make up for the lack of color and design. I did purchase the terracotta version of these plates by Anfora. Where the blue is there’s white and instead of white dishes they’re brown. They’re so beautiful I cant let them go 🙁
Can you test blue willow china?
I have many published test results for Blue Willow china. Just put the words “Blue Willow” in the search bar at the top of any page of the site.
T