Here’s the general introduction I provide on a lot of my articles, for those who may be new to my work (or have possibly “stumbled upon” this work while casually browsing, or conducting more serious research):
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). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
XRF test results for the ornament pictured
Note: This ornament came in an original vintage/antique box of Shiny Brite ornaments. If you have any additional information about this specific ornament please do comment below.
Pink Ornament
30-second reading
- Lead (Pb): 10 +/- 7 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 165 +/- 81 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 657 +/- 63 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 43 +/- 27 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 34 +/- 12 ppm
- Bismuth (Bi): 11 +/- 7 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
More details will be posted shortly.
Hi, I have an old set of Shiny Brite ornaments my parents had in the 70s. I haven’t ever used them on our own tree and was debating whether to toss the or repurpose. I see the headline on this post says, “Vintage Shiny Brite (?) Christmas Ornament – Pink Glass Ball: 10 ppm Lead (90 ppm & up is unsafe for kids).” Does that mean that b/c it’s only 10 (well under 90), that’s it’s generally safe? Also, did you happen to test all of the ornaments in the box pictured, or just the pink one?
There are quite a few of these on the site and many are very toxic. Start looking through the examples here https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas-ornaments/