Introduction:
Tamara Rubin is a Federal award winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and childhood Lead poisoning prevention. 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.
Le Prix China Stainless Dinner Knife with Plastic Handle
Purchased c. 2019
Reading #1.) blade of knife (over logo)
60-second reading
Stainless Steel 416
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): 23 +/- 6 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 134,400 +/- 400 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 628 +/- 88 ppm
- Manganese (Mn): 4,295 +/- 295 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 859,400 +/- 700 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 839 +/- 111 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 37 +/- 19 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 235 +/- 110 pm
Reading #2.) rivets on knife handle
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): 3 +/- 1 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 13,800 +/- 100 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 98 +/- 40 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 35,600 +/- 200 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 1,840 +/- 24 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 956 +/- 19 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 3 +/- 1 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 3,121 +/- 73 pm
- Tin (Sn): 12 +/- 4 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 91 +/- 22 ppm
Reading #3.) plastic of handle
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 78 +/- 17 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 140 +/- 8 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 10 +/- 3 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 5,900 +/- 104 pm
- Barium (Ba): 153 +/- 28 ppm
Reading #4.) metal top of handle
60-second reading
Stainless Steel 304
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): 25 +/- 5 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 179,900 +/- 500 ppm
- Vanadium (V): 1,764 +/- 116 ppm
- Manganese (Mn): 11,100 +/- 300 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 722,300 +/- 700 ppm
- Cobalt (Co): 942 +/- 393 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 80,400 +/- 500 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 2,967 +/- 114 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 36 +/- 20 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 320 +/- 119 pm
- Tin (Sn): 44 +/- 10 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 111 +/- 38 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.
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
Dear Tamara, hope you are doing well after your surgery.
Went to my doctor today and found out California has said anything grown in the ground has LEAD in it organic or not. Doctors, markets now must post this like prop 65. All the vitamin companies are going to have to put this on their vitamin bottles! Quite frankly I think it’s going to hurt a lot of businesses.