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 contaminants 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.
Each reading on this piece of rock was completely different.
I took dozens of readings on this rock. Two full sets are below. Since it is NATURAL sandstone, each reading was different – and some were significantly different than others (both in terms of the number of metals found and in the quantity of each of the metals found).
In two of the samples, the instrument appeared to briefly detect very low trace Lead [the readings were below 6 parts per million]. I was not able to replicate either of those readings (one on each side of the rock), so do not have them listed below (as I don’t ever consider readings reliable if they cannot be replicated!). Given the level was potentially so very low – it really falls within the margin of error of the instrument. [I intend to do some additional follow-up testing of this bit of rock to see if I can replicate those levels. If I am unable to replicate those readings, I will “declare” this to be likely completely Lead-free.]
Test One: 60+ seconds – rouger side
- Iron (Fe): 19,300 +/- 200 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 93 +/- 7 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 9,565 +/- 481 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 316 +/- 5 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 47 +/- 11 ppm
Test Two: 60+ seconds – flatter side
- Chromium (Cr): 447 +/- 96 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 27,800 +/- 300 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 75 +/- 6 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 20,000 +/- 500 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 813 +/- 10 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 41 +/- 12 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 22 +/- 10 pp
Update: Trace Lead Confirmed
Follow up testing for trace Lead
Reading #1 – 60 seconds
- Lead (Pb): 4 +/- 3 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 305 +/- 89 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 26,700 +/- 300 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 64 +/- 6 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 21,900 +/- 500 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 880 +/- 10 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 27 +/- 11 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 23 +/- 10 ppm
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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