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For those new to the Lead Safe Mama 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 four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since 2009, Tamara has been conducting XRF testing (a scientific testing method) using the exact instrumentation employed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic).
• Since July of 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for 5 product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
• Recent notable press… There has been too much to mention already in 2024! Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!

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This is an ad-free article.

Advertising and affiliate income help us cover the costs of the work (independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead-poisoning prevention advocacy) we do here. We have published this article without advertisements. We have also removed ads from most of our more widely-read articles to make them easier for you to read. In addition to supporting this work by starting any shopping you might be doing with clicks on our affiliate links, if you would like to support our independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead-poisoning prevention advocacy work by making a contribution (which will also help us keep our more widely-read articles ad-free), click here. Thank you!

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Published: September 23, 2021
Updated: February 27, 2024

In response to the viral meme on Facebook (see original meme below), we created two “corrected”/ alternate memes for Lead Safe Mama readers to share in its place to help dispel some of the dangerous misinformation that is being shared with the original meme. IF you do choose to share one — or both! — of our corrected meme images (both are below if you scroll down), please consider sharing it with one or more of the links below so people have more information about the concern for Lead-painted decorative elements on vintage cookware.

Links you may want to share with this image:

1. Why it’s a problem that the Lead paint is on the outside.
2. This overview article with links to all of the Corning casseroles we have tested.
3. This overview article with links to all of the vintage Pyrex we have tested.
4. A scientific study that discusses the potential problem of Lead-painted new and vintage glassware.
5. Here’s some more information on how much Lead it can take to poison a child.
6. And, some symptoms of Lead exposure in adults.
7. Here’s how to respond if folks say “but my grandma was fine, she lived to 100.”
8. This article, which discusses why the home test kits don’t work on most dishes.
9. The recent YouTube video in which Lead Safe Mama tests a vintage Pyrex bowl with a home test kit.
10. A summary of the testing methodologies used for the test results reported here on the website .
    
11. Here’s one of our more popular articles about the Corning casserole test results.
12. And one of the more popular articles about vintage Pyrex mixing bowls.
13. Here’s how to dispose of these Leaded items.
14. Some safer casserole dish choices.
15. And, safer mixing bowl choices.

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ETA: Photo credit for the original photo of dishes in the red cart goes to Jennifer Castellano of Jacksonville Oregon (she contacted me (in 2021) to let me know that it is her photo going viral in the original “Return To Now” meme). I updated each of my images with her photo credit as well. Here’s the link to Jennifer’s original image, which was used by Return To Now without permission and without crediting her (in their original share of their post in September 2021). Jennifer’s Instagram is _fortheloveofPyrex_

Here’s my comment on Facebook (related to the photo/ Meme from “Return To Now”):

Hello all — the woman who took the photo in the viral meme (referenced in my images below) commented on my Facebook page that she did not get photo credit in her photo (from everyone who was sharing the viral meme with her image — including the initial share from Return To Now — below) and she asked that I take down my images, which include reference to the meme that included her photo.

Because what I do is journalism (which includes not simply sharing the original meme, but commenting on the meme and commenting about the reason the idea that was expressed in the meme was unsafe/ not a good idea) and because the meme was shared by countless outlets before I took it upon myself to comment that the idea was unsafe, (so I was writing about it BECAUSE it was a viral meme and BECAUSE it was an unsafe idea) — I do not take down my work or images accompanying unsafe suggestions (made by others) online, but I did update my images (which incorporated the photo as shared by Return To Now) with a photo credit for her and also included a linked photo credit at the top of this article. (This post has links — above — to more details about the potential for harm in using vintage Lead painted dishware for food use purposes.)

It is never my intention to use a photo without credit and I always search very thoroughly for the original source when sharing commentary on a meme. Every now and then (as in this case) it is nearly impossible to find the original source unless someone speaks up — so thank you for chiming in Jennifer, I am happy to give you credit for your photo and I hope others follow suit as well.  (I assumed — as I am sure others did when this was initially shared by Return To Now — that the image belonged to (or was cleared by) Return To Now.)

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The first image below is the original “Meme” on Return To Now (the page that originally shared the unsafe suggestion/ information with Jennifer’s photo with no photo credit in September of 2021). I have also emailed Return To Now and commented on this post, asking them to give Jennifer credit for her photo.

 

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There are TWO Lead Safe Mama “corrected” memes! Scroll down for an alternate version!

 

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Version #2: