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). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
XRF test results for the dish pictured
This test is on the green painted design on the food surface of the dish.
- Cadmium (Cd): 291 +/- 16 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 302 +/- 52 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 13,300 +/- 900 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 2,278 +/- 65 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 3,634 +/- 147 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 372 +/- 85 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 542 +/- 139 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 8,797 +/- 1,169 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 63,300 +/- 2,700 ppm
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
Thank you for reading and sharing our work!
This article was published the weekend of June 4-6, 2021
With the articles I am writing this weekend, I am doing my best to write up and publish as many test result sets as possible as quickly as possible (because I am over a YEAR behind in my writing as a result of the fact that I have had absolutely no childcare for most of the pandemic [no childcare since about two weeks before the pandemic actually… as my kids were already out sick (with various illnesses) when the pandemic started]!)
Yup, that’s right — some people have been waiting (ever so patiently) for more than a year for the test results for their items because of the impact the pandemic has had on my ability to both test consumer goods and coherently write about them (and also take the time to document each item with photographs).
To this end — in the articles this weekend — I am simply including photos of the items tested along with the XRF test results and will not be writing more specifically about each of these products, like I usually do, at this time (in the interest of getting as much information out to my readers as quickly as possible).
THAT SAID if you are new below are EIGHT LINKS with some important background information:
- This link discusses the testing I report on here on the website.
- This link has a short video that shows you how to efficiently search the more than 3,000 articles and pages here on the Lead Safe Mama website.
- This link has info about my background as well as rates to hire me for an event, a private home consultation, or as a consultant.
- This link has information about my October United States travel schedule and my current calendar for scheduling in-person home consultations with me this year.
- This link has information about hiring me for a Zoom consult or to teach a class or be a speaker at a Zoom event.
- This is the link to the documentary feature film that I directed and produced on childhood Lead poisoning. I encourage you to watch it if you have not yet seen it. It is 92 minutes so… grab some popcorn… it is up on YouTube free of charge
- This is the link to our new “Shop Lead Safe Mama” website, which lists only products (in various categories) that we have found to be consistently Lead-free (when tested with an XRF instrument).
- This is the link that explains how to have something of yours tested with the test results reported here on the site.
I think that’s it! Let me know if you have any questions about this particular item by commenting here on this article. Thanks again for being here!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
I’m wondering if the cadmium is only in the colored areas of the dish?
Yes – it is.
Is Cadmium dangerous? I have these dishes
Cadmium is a known carcinogen. You can read more about that here:
https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/cadmium-concerns/
Tamara
I have a similar dish gotten around 2003-2004. It’s the same shape but with a black thin design. Do you think it would affect that too? That’s been my go-to dish for almost 20 years. 🙁
I own the plain white square dishes. Are these safe? Is it just the dishes with painted design that are suspect? I also have the rimmed soup bowl/ pasta dish that has colored stripes on the rim. I use these everyday
I have one of these plates… are you going to replace it?
What does the bold blue mean next to cobalt. Is that a LEVEL of danger. Is there a way to compare these to others. How high is this ? I mean compared to the everyday exposure from the air — is this considered HIGH ?
So do you go by 291 or 16 ppm on results so then it’s below 40 ppm or am I wrong And what about colbalt levels what low on green leaf
291 +/- 16 is read “two hundred and ninety one plus or minus sixteen” – so the range is from “291-16” to “291+16”, which means the range is from 275 to 307.
Ok so I have these plates and used them for years . They have no lead but it has Cadmium and cobalt should I be using them or get rid of them How bad are the level in general to every day exposure to stuff
I have Bamboo Leaf dishes bought in 2012 at my local Walmart. We’ve been using them for 12 years. I have tried to contact Corelle about the Cadmium and they keep emailing me boilerplate responses about lead and NO information about Cadmium or any advice.
I need to know if I should throw the dishes out. We have very noticeable paint loss on the dishes which makes me very concerned.