Introduction:
Tamara Rubin is an independent advocate for consumer goods safety, and she is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. 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. She uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for metallic toxicants (including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic). To read more about the testing methodology employed for the test results reported on this blog, please click this link.
Reading on handle of lobster pick
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): 1,002 +/- 56 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 19 +/- 9 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 329 +/- 57 ppm
- Manganese (Mn): 4,143 +/- 124 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 501,000 +/- 700 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 3,819 +/- 315 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 487,300 +/- 700 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 417 +/- 45 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 778 +/- 139 ppm
- Nb: 831 +/- 30 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 70 +/- 13 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 197 +/- 82 ppm
Some additional reading that might be of interest:
- The post discussing the testing methodology used on this website
- Post discussing how to send in an item for testing
- Things that you can test at home.
- Things that might be better tested with an XRF instrument.
- “Can I test things myself at home?”
Thanks for reading. Thank you for sharing my posts. As always, please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them personally as soon as I have a moment (which may not be right away – but I will try!)
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Anne says
Was this set from decades ago, or recently made?
Tamara says
I really couldn’t say, but I am pretty sure it is old / vintage. I have noticed they still sell ones like this though – however they also now have inexpensive stainless steel options available! This looks like a good one (aflink): https://amzn.to/3BCHSn1 I haven’t tested this exact one (<<< in that link) so I don't know for sure if they are stainless - but it looks like there are many choices. Tamara
Anne says
Thanks. I have very old and brand new ones. Will toss the old items!