Vintage Libbey glass with red poppy floral pattern: 733,200 ppm Lead + 28,500 ppm Cadmium in the painted decorations
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. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023.
July 18, 2021 — Sunday
#1.) XRF test results on the red painted decoration of glass
Tested multiple times to confirm the results — 60-seconds minimum per test
- Lead (Pb): 509,600 +/- 25,000 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 21,200 +/- 1,000 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 1,144 +/- 120
#2.) XRF test results on the green painted decoration of glass
Tested multiple times to confirm the results — 6o-seconds minimum per test
- Lead (Pb): 733,200 +/- 24,000 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 28,500 +/- 900 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 2,948 +/- 250 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 5,813 +/- 537 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,279 +/- 136
- Nickel (Ni): 231 +/- 76 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 808 +/- 165
- Zinc (Zn): 332 +/- 42 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 5,145 +/- 631 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 826 +/- 66 ppm
- Antimony (Sb): 595 +/- 109 ppm
#3.) On the clear (unpainted) bottom of the glass
- Lead (Pb): 6 +/- 3 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 4 +/- 2 ppm
- Bromine (Br): 15 +/- 1 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 237 +/- 38 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 140 +/- 11 ppm
Some additional reading that might be of interest:
- Other Libbey brand glassware I have tested
- The post discussing the testing methodology used on this website
- Some good choices for Lead-free glassware options
- An article about a study that discussed the concern for Lead painted glassware
- How to send in an item for testing
- “Why is this a problem? The Lead paint is only on the outside?“
- “Can I test these 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
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