HotHands Air Activated Disposable Hand Warmers: Non-detect for Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury and Antimony!

Published: December 17, 2021

Lead Safe Mama’s Amazon Affiliate Link for This Product: https://amzn.to/3p8Alb2

I was particularly intrigued when a reader sent these in for testing. I remembered a product like this from when I was a child (back in the mid-to-late 1970s)… something we bought at Brookstone to keep in our pockets to help us stay warm when we were out skiing for the day (and similar activities during the New England winters when I was a child). The ones I remember from the 1970s were probably a much more toxic version of this product… given this product even states on the packaging “Safe, natural heat”!

I had no idea WHAT these would be made of but – with XRF testing – was fascinated to learn that the main ingredient is Iron (likely Iron filings?) which, I suppose is the vehicle for holding and transferring the heat. I am still curious to learn more about what the heating chemicals are (the chemicals creating the reaction that generates the heat that is then trapped in the iron), but this testings seems to indicate that whatever the chemicals are that cause the actual “air activated” heat – they are not metals-based! My sons told me they watched an interesting YouTube video about these products (and how they work). I will look for that and update this post with the link as soon as I find it!

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Reading #1) On white part of sachet 
60-second reading

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): 554 +/- 61 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 4,597+/- 172 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 833,400 +/- 19,000 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 1,624 +/- 364 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 458 +/- 68 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 71 +/- 25 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 7,605 +/- 284 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 640 +/- 37 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 27 +/- 13 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 226 +/- 55 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

Reading #2) On red writing on white sachet
60-second reading

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): 491 +/- 60 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 4,840 +/- 181 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 899,400 +/- 22,000 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 2,273 +/- 390 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 408 +/- 71 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 51 +/- 26 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 8,292 +/- 316 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 665 +/- 40 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 303 +/- 60 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

All readings reported here on LeadSafeMama.com are for tests that were repeated multiple times (for each component or with each variable in mind) in order to confirm the results. Test results are science-based, accurate and replicable.

As always, thank you for reading and for sharing Lead Safe Mama posts. 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 since I have children underfoot most of the time these days!)

Tamara Rubin
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC
Mother of Lead Poisoned Children

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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. Tamara’s sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in August of 2005. 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. Tamara uses 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 tested. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.

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