“Made In USA” vintage white kitchen tile with blue flower trim (California): as high as 33,000 ppm Lead in the decorative elements
Introduction (for those new to this website):
Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (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.
#1.) Glazed surface of white square tile
Tested repeatedly with each component tested multiple times for at least 60 seconds each
#1.) Glazed surface of white square tile- Lead (Pb): 55 +/- 6 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 929 +/- 52 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 332 +/- 19 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 39,500 +/- 400 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 601 +/- 24 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 109 +/- 41 ppm
#2.) Back unglazed surface of white square tile
- Lead (Pb): 29 +/- 4 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 3,275 +/- 80 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 321 +/- 12 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 452+/- 6 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 277 +/- 12 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 60 +/- 12 ppm
#3.) Blue flower on small edge tile
- Lead (Pb): 33,000 +/- 300 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 224 +/- 7 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 3,508 +/- 147 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 983 +/- 213 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,220 +/- 55 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 10,200 +/- 100 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 126 +/- 14 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 32,900 +/- 300 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 15,700 +/- 200 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 513 +/- 12 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 690 +/- 26 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 521 +/- 53 ppm
- Gold (Au): 482 +/- 52 ppm
#4.) White background area of small edge tile
- Lead (Pb): 336 +/- 16 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 746 +/- 61 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 345 +/- 24 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 61,200 +/- 800 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 22,100 +/- 400 ppm
- Indium (In): 13 +/- 6 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 655 +/- 32 ppm
#5.) Unglazed black of small edge tile
- Lead (Pb): 37 +/- 5 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 3,678 +/- 118 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 4,057 +/- 75 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 848 +/- 14 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 344 +/- 18 ppm
A primary concern with tile like this is demolition.
Here are some additional related posts to read:
- This post covers the demolition concern.
- This post discusses the impact of a potential low-level dust exposure (how little Lead in dust it takes to poison a child/person).
- Here’s my overview post about the testing methodology employed on this site.
- This is a link to all of my posts with the tag “Tile.”
- Here’s another overview post about Lead in ceramics.
- This post shows you how to search this website efficiently, please watch the video.
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
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