February 14, 1905 newspaper (that was inside the walls of my house): 13 ppm Lead

For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (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 (March 2023 print edition).

XRF test results for the newspaper pictured
60-second test

• Lead (Pb): 13 +/- 2 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): 2 +/- 1 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 44 +/- 21 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 741 +/- 20 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 10 +/- 5 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 43 +/- 3 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 120 +/- 44 ppm
• Bismuth (Bi): 7 +/- 2 ppm

Test results reported on this website are for tests repeated multiple times to confirm the results prior to publishing. Test results reported on the site are accurate, science-based, and replicable. 

Thank you for reading and for sharing this work. As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama