March 14, 2022 Letter to Arion Press in San Francisco (a company likely Lead poisoning their employees, interns and visitors to their factory.)

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March 14, 2022 – Monday

In response to re-sharing my piece (yesterday) about the concern for high Lead levels in vintage print trays (that many families are unfortunately using to display curios and small toys in their children’s rooms (link here), last night a friend shared this video with me (embedded below). I watched it (some time between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.!) and then (immediately) found the San Francisco-based company’s website (link) and wrote them this letter (scroll down below the video) via a submission using the contact form on their website. Minor edits made to correct typos / for readability. Note: As a full-time Lead poisoning prevention advocate and as a mother of children with acute Lead exposure, I was utterly horrified by what I saw in this video (and terribly worried for the potential health impacts to anyone who works at or visits this facility, given they are apparently employing no worker protections nor do they appear to be using any containment methods for isolating / limiting potential Lead contamination of the facility or anyone who enters the building.)

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Subject: Concern for potential Lead Poisoning of your workers

Hello. Are you aware of the Benjamin Franklin letter from 1786? I have it up on my website, here’s the link:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/05/benjamin-franklins-letter-on-lead-poisoning-july-31-1786/

Here’s another post you may want to read. Several of the links in this post will be especially relevant for you:
https://tamararubin.com/2013/12/lead-in-antiques-christmas-lights/

Please let me know if you have any questions and if I can help in any way.

I am quite concerned about the Lead dust levels your employees could bring home to their families (on their hair and on their clothes – based on what I saw in the Insider video). I am also concerned about the blood lead levels of your employees, which could easily quickly become an OSHA violation if folks are not wearing respirators and not using gloves [as shown in the video].

People don’t understand the microscopic amount of Lead that it takes to poison a human. The OSHA  blood lead level limits for adults are not protective of human health, they have been put in place to protect industry. Blood Lead Levels as low as 0.43 have been shown to cause infertility / inability to conceive and birth complications in women of childbearing age. You can read more about that on this post:
https://tamararubin.com/2019/07/today-is-my-youngest-sons-11th-birthday-happy-birthday-charlie-parker-eliezer-rubin-the-story-of-how-lead-impacted-his-birth/

I would be quite concerned if anyone in your factory tested positive for BLL’s over a 1.0 – especially given the average population level for adult women of childbearing age is that 0.43 noted above. [A BLL of 1.0 or higher in an adult today in 2022 indicates that they likely have an above average and current / ongoing source of Lead exposure.] Blood Lead levels as low as 2.0 have been clearly and repeatedly demonstrated to cause long-term permanent health impacts including a significant increased correlation [a causal link actually] with cognitive deficits / memory impairments / early onset Alzheimer’s – Michael J Kosnett, MD, MPH study is: Health Hazards of Low-level Lead Exposure to Adults.  Michael is the primary researcher on this, Here’s a presentation he did in Berkeley in 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQ7q6bNtwE

Tamara Rubin
LeadSafeMama.com
Mother of acutely Lead poisoned children
Federally-award winning activist for childhood Lead poisoning prevention

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Additional reading for Arion Press to support these concerns

1. An article about the impact of Low level lead exposure (from 2007) – with a focus on BLL 2.0
2. An article discussing symptoms of Lead exposure in adults
3. An article about the importance of Blood Lead Level testing
4. An article discussing what “normal” Blood Lead Levels are
5. An article discussing how to interpret your BLL test result if you got a “less than” plus a number
6. An article demonstrating how much Lead in dust it takes to poison a human being
7. A private preview screener link to the documentary film I wrote / directed / edited/ produced on Lead poisoning [Music donated by The Who and Tom Waits, Executive Producers include JON FISHMAN (drummer of Phish), footage includes interview with Noam Chomsky and presentation from my event in Flint, Michigan with Bernie Sanders in 2016.]
8. A short video that shows how to most efficiently search this website for additional information
9. An overview post about the concern for Lead in books

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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.