Vintage violin tuner / pitch pipe – Made in Czechoslovakia: 4,201 ppm Lead + 1,316 ppm Cadmium on the end where you put your mouth.

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Here’s the general introduction I provide on a lot of my posts, for those who may be new to my work (or have possibly “stumbled upon” my work – while just casually browsing, or conducting more serious research):

Tamara Rubin is a Federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and childhood Lead-poisoning prevention. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. 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. She uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for metallic toxicants (including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic). To read more about the testing methodology employed for the test results reported on this blog, please click this link.

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XRF Test results for the pitch pipe pictured

Reading #1) The metal of the pipe – the end where you put your mouth
30-second reading

• Lead (Pb): 4,201 +/- 218 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 1,316 +/- 59 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): 86 +/- 18 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 184 +/- 104 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 250 +/- 75 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 127 +/- 49 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 40,200 +/- 400 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 211,200 +/- 1,000 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 741,400 +/- 2,000 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 423 +/- 271 ppm
• Nb: 240 +/- 54 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 196 +/- 94 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

Reading #2) The sticker on the outside of the red original box
30-second reading

• Lead (Pb): 14 +/- 4 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 456 +/- 67 ppm
• Vanadium (V): 4,305 +/- 211 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 590 +/- 36 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 60 +/- 12 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 74 +/- 8 ppm
• Arsenic (As): 4 +/- 3 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 3,213 +/- 234 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 4,265 +/- 88 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

More details to be posted shortly.