Photos below are of the baby bottle tested and reported about in this post.
The photos include all of the packaging and shipping materials as well
(to address any doubt about the authenticity of the product).
Another Lead-Painted Baby Bottle:
Purchased on Amazon in February 2022
Published: March 3, 2022 — Thursday
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
First I want to start this post off with a GIANT THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone who helped make testing this baby bottle possible (and every other baby bottle that Lead Safe Mama, LLC has tested up till now, too)!
For those of you who are new here, it is important to understand that keeping the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC truly independent (without industry influence) is a collaborative community effort with our readers — readers All. Over. The. World.
Readers tell us what products they would like to see tested, and help us cover the cost of that testing. Readers also help report our findings to the offending companies, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and other regulatory agencies when appropriate. You can read more about how it all works at this link.
Specifically regarding this glass Pigeon-brand baby bottle, here’s how things unfolded:
- Last week (end-of-February, 2022) I published information about the Lansinoh glass bottles on Instagram (our findings from December 2022 that the Lansinoh baby bottles are painted with Lead-containing paint — and that the company had contacted us asking us to remove our statements about their products from this website). In those communications on social media, I noted that in my research into the company I had learned they were owned by the parent company, Pigeon (see graphic below). I was not at all familiar with Pigeon before that moment and did not know that they also make a Pigeon-branded glass baby bottle (in addition to the glass Lansinoh bottles).
- A reader on Instagram then asked me if the Pigeon-branded glass bottles were also impacted by the same concerns that we were seeing with the Lansinoh bottles (because they were from the same company).
- I then dug around on Amazon until I found the Pigeon store and purchased a Pigeon-branded glass baby bottle to be delivered to me here at Lead Safe Mama, LLC headquarters (a.k.a my house).
- I then shared on the interwebs that I had purchased the Pigeon glass bottle, would be testing it (using XRF technology — read more about that here) soon, and reporting on those test results quickly after. I asked if folks could make contributions to help cover the cost of both purchasing and testing the bottle (which they did!).
- That brings us to now — and this post with the test results for the Pigeon glass baby bottle pictured (with red and yellow exterior painted decorative and measurement markings).
Continue reading below the image.
Not only is this glass baby bottle by Pigeon (the parent company of Lansinoh) painted with Lead paint, but the paint also tested positive for three other poisons: high levels of Cadmium (causes cancer), Arsenic, and trace (low) levels of Mercury.
I may expound upon this later (I haven’t yet had a chance to edit this post!), but I wanted to get this information out there for parents A.S.A.P. It’s frankly OUTRAGEOUS that not only is this Pigeon brand glass baby bottle painted with high-Lead paint (Lead content high enough to fit the definition of Lead-based paint [over 5,000 ppm] not the less-offensive moniker of “Lead-containing paint” [under 5,000 ppm]), but the paint also tests positive for high levels of Cadmium in the red and high levels of ARSENIC in the yellow. The red also tested positive for trace levels of MERCURY!
I am especially furious about this particular brand of baby bottle because it is made by the parent company of Lansinoh (another brand of Lead-painted glass baby bottles). You can read my recent exchange with Lansinoh at this link here (and all Lansinoh-related posts here).
Once I tested this glass baby bottle, the very first thing I did was look up the company (Pigeon — which I had never heard of before), and saw that they had won an award (in Japan, in 2016) for their company’s business practices in creating products for new mothers. As soon as I saw they had won this award, I submitted a complaint to the organization that gave Pigeon the award (an organization with ties to a distinguished professor from Harvard), asking them to retract the award given the company is guilty of painting their baby bottles — under two different brand names — with high-Lead paint.
Continue reading below the image.
Some additional links related to baby bottles.
- For those of you looking for safer baby bottle choices, click here.
- To see all of the baby bottle-related posts on this website, click here.
- For the few people who might be asking “Why is this a problem? It’s only on the outside of the bottle,” read about that here.
This is NOT illegal!
Please note: Due to bizarre regulatory loopholes in relevant national and international legislation — even though Lead is known to be incredibly toxic, AND the scientific consensus is solid (across relevant disciplines) that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children — IT IS NOT ILLEGAL to paint baby bottles with Lead paint in 2022. Even a recent 2017 scientific study identified and examined the concern for Lead in the exterior paint of glassware used for food use, showing how it obviously should be illegal. We are trying to make this change through the awareness and promorion/advocacy efforts of Lead Safe Mama, LLC, and our volunteers around the world. Pigeon is the THIRD brand of Lead-painted baby bottles the Lead Safe Mama team has identified in the past 12 months alone. In the years prior to that period, we also identified and reported on several other brands of Lead-painted baby feeding products (or Lead-containing baby feeding products). You can read the summary we submitted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (in 2021) here.
Continue reading below the images.
The screenshots below are linked to the articles they were taken from.
More outrage!!!
Just now as I was searching for more information about this award (to share on this post), I found the article linked above (first screenshot in the series of three above), which states that Pigeon has saturated the Japanese market and are moving overseas as the Japanese birth rate has declined. DO THEY KNOW the link between LEAD EXPOSURE and infertility/declining birth rates? Have they considered that their products might be contributing to this “problem?” What ASSHOLES! Read more about the link between Lead exposure and birth impacts here.
XRF test results for the glass Pigeon-brand baby bottle pictured:
Reading #1) On the red paint
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): 14,700 +/- 100 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 856 +/- 14 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 33 +/- 9 ppm
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 545 +/- 108 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 39 +/- 7 ppm
- Selenium (Se): 522 +/- 14 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 1,518 +/- 22 ppm
Reading #2) On the yellow paint
60-second reading
- Lead (Pb): 8,306 +/- 82 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 191 +/- 57 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 41 +/- 25 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 118 +/- 16 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 952 +/- 41 ppm
Reading #3) On the clear glass of the bottle
30-second reading
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 14 +/- 3 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 685 +/- 184 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 1,416 +/- 26 ppm
- Niobium (Nb): 322 +/- 13 ppm
- Indium (In): 26 +/- 5 ppm
That’s it for now.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for reading and sharing these posts.
I hope you are outraged with me.
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Owner — Lead Safe Mama, LLC
If you want to support this work (Lead Safe Mama, LLC is the ONLY one doing testing and reporting on this issue for some reason) please click here to see all the ways you can help, many of which are 100% free to you but still make a big difference. Please click here to learn more about our unique community-collaborative small business model.
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.
Thank you for sending the word out! Did you test the nipple by chance? Or the plastic lansinoh bottle? Based on my correspondence with the company, I think the plastic bottle may turn up some adverse affects as well.
Any new info on the Pigeon or Lansinoh bottles? I was going to purchase one of them soon, and would would like to know if the issue was fixed.
Thank you
No. They are painted with Lead paint. Do not buy them. We are working on getting them recalled.
Was curious if this applies to all pigeon brand glass bottles that are painted?
yes
Tamara did you test the pigeon plastic bottles as well? Like the ppsu or PP for example. Would like to know if its also contained lead as I have some at home and baby is 5 months old.
Thanks in advance
The plastic bottles are not impacted.
Thank you for reply. I guess because they using different paint on plastic bottle? Anyhow good to know better to avoid this. Thank you for your hard work making us aware of this. Cheers
Hey, did you test the silicone pigeon bottles? these:
Pigeon Silicone Coating (Glass Inside/Silicone Outside) Nursing Bottle, Tree, Blue, Wide Neck, Natural Feel, Easy to Clean, Heat-Resistant, 8.1 Oz https://a.co/d/9Tr4a1m
I have not tested those, but I expect they are Lead-free. The issue is primarily with the glass bottles.
There is likely trace-Cadmium in the nipples – this is an issue with all silicone nipples – so I recommend using natural rubber nipples whenever possible. [If it is a matter of feeding your baby or not feeding your baby – use the silicone, but if you haven’t tried the natural rubber – it is worth trying those.]
Tamara
Thx for your reply. The bottles are glass on the inside and coated with silicone on the outside. Imagine taking a glass bottle and dipping it in silicone.
It’s not obvious if the paint is on the glass under the silicone or if it’s on the silicone itself.
Thank you
Hello I came across your article and am concerned about the pigeon bottles I have as they are glass & ppsu. The glass bottle you have pictured in the article looks vastly different than the ones I received from Amazon. When you said ALL glass bottles from pigeon, do you also include these? Pigeon Glass Nursing Bottle Wide Neck, Streamlined Body, Natural Feel, Easy to Clean, Heat-Resistant, 8.1 Oz(Pack of 2), Includes 2pcs M Nipples (3m+) https://a.co/d/67pahjy
All of the glass bottles with painted markings from this brand have tested positive for unsafe levels of Lead in the paint.
Hi I just bought a pigeon glass bottle from my lactation consultant and she said she gets it from Japan. It’s 160ml and the packaging is all in Japanese. It looks different from the one in your photos. The markings on the bottle are not raised like in your photos. I’m not sure what it means by painted.
email me a photo- tamararubin@mac.com
are the silicone nipples safe?
hi are the pigeon nipples safe to use on the dr. brown glass bottles?