Published: December 17, 2021 – Friday
I am certain this is exciting news for many Lead Safe Mama readers! So many of the modern artificial Christmas trees these days test positive for at least one (if not more) toxic heavy metals of concern. While of course Chlorine is not ideal – the Chlorine test result (noted below) is because the object is made of plastic. In this application (the functional use and interaction you might have with an Artificial Christmas tree in your home for the holidays) this is not concerning.
Most exciting is not that this tree is negative for LEAD but that it is also negative for ANTIMONY. Antimony is commonly used as a component of flame retardants when there is a concern for an electrical fire (with almost ALL modern plug in appliances – like your toaster or your oven). BECAUSE this tree is from Target (and Target actually has an excellent track record and very good policies around toxicants in the consumer goods they sell) AND because this is not a plug-in (pre-lit) tree (with the lighting wires running throughout the tree), it does not have any Antimony.
- Most plug-in trees have Antimony.
- Most modern Christmas light strands have Antimony (some still have Lead.)
- Antimony causes cancer in rats and is harmful even at very low levels (for example if inhaled as part of house dust). As a result – avoiding Antimony AND avoiding Lead is the goal with artificial Christmas trees (you can read more about Antimony on this link.)
I would say that if you are going to insist on having an artificial Christmas tree in your home, this Wondershop artificial “Virginia Pine” 7-1/2 foot tall unlit tree from Target seems like an excellent choice!
XRF test results for the artificial Christmas tree pictured above:
Reading #1) Natural branch (frosted)
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Iron (Fe): 56 +/- 30 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 22 +/- 12 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 885 +/- 11 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 118 +/- 21 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
- No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #2) Natural branch (frosted) – on metal end (brown)
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Iron (Fe): 24,800 +/- 200 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 640 +/- 9 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 146 +/- 16 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
- No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #3) Flat needle branch
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Iron (Fe): 1,991 +/- 49 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 40 +/- 9 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 4,170 +/- 455 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 151 +/- 5 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 84 +/- 13 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
- No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.
Tests are repeated multiple times (on each component) to confirm the results. Test results reported here on LeadSafeMama.com / TamaraRubin.com are replicable, science-based and accurate.
Some additional reading for those who are interested:
- Other faux Christmas trees I have tested.
- Other Christmas items I have tested.
- Christmas light strand examples I have tested.
- Details about the testing methodology used for the test results reported on this blog.
- Please watch this video about how to most efficiently search the blog (if you have not yet seen it!) Thank you!
Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. Please let me know if you have any questions; I will do my best to answer your questions personally as soon as I have a moment (which may take a while as I have my hands full with kids most of the time these days!)
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
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.
This is the above pictured Christmas tree set up (last year, in 2020) in the home of the owner.
Wonderful! Do you have any suggestions for Christmas lights? I got some Ikea but I know they still have antimony.
This post has some guidance about Christmas lights:
https://tamararubin.com/2020/11/hello-im-here-to-ruin-christmas-for-you-do-you-know-how-toxic-your-christmas-decorations-are/
Tamara
I would like to get a Christmas tree and we aren’t allowed to have real ones in HUD apartments. Do you think the new ones this year from Wonder Shop, not pre lit, would likely have the same safe results? I could get one of these much easier than Ikea. But I’d have to work on convincing my kid we don’t need to put lights on it. Thoughts?