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For those new to the Lead Safe Mama website:

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).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific testing method) using the exact instrumentation employed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic).
• Since July of 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for 5 product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
• All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
• Items that Lead Safe Mama, LLC reports on are tested multiple times to confirm the results published (for each component tested).
• Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February 2023 (March 2023 print edition) and The Guardian in November 2023.

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Published: Wednesday — July 6, 2022

In 2021/2022 Naturepedic is a sponsor of the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC, and we also have an affiliate relationship with them (where we earn a percentage of what you spend if you click through to their website using one of our links). They came on board officially as a sponsor last year — when I asked them if they would be interested in supporting the Lead Safe Mama e-mail newsletter, with a contribution to help cover the ongoing costs of sending that out (their annual contribution fully covers our monthly fee through our electronic newsletter host!). Last year Naturepedic also generously agreed to donate products to our giveaways — giveaways specifically designed to help increase public participation in the international conversation for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety… and over the past year, they have donated more than $10,000 in prizes that we have given away to Lead Safe Mama readers chosen at random!

Naturepedic was invited to become a sponsor of this work because they are the mattress brand that I have chosen for my family. During my research to identify & select a producer of a high-quality all-natural-materials, Lead-free mattress for our family, I had encountered and tested their products (both using XRF technology and ALSO more extensively tested them out — by actually sleeping on them when visiting friends’ homes !) — and I fell in love with both their unique design & manufacturing approach to creating a safer, nontoxic choice – which I was specifically looking for for my children (who are already dealing with a body burden of heavy metals as a result of being acutely Lead-poisoned as babies), and also I fell in love with the luxurious comfort of sleeping on their mattresses! My children, my husband, and I sleep on Naturepedic mattresses every night when we are home – and this is the reason that (unlike other “bloggers” who often promote every brand they can earn money promoting) this is the only mattress brand I promote on my site (since it is the only one I personally sleep on!).

I hadn’t yet tried out and tested Naturepedic’s PLA (derived from sugarcane) pillow, and so I recently asked them to send me one so I could check it out — and test it using my XRF instrument and report the results here on the website for my readers. As expected, the pillow is free of any heavy metals, and only tests positive for very low levels of Bromine and Iron. [Finding trace metals (very low levels of one or two metals) is expected and normal in products made of natural materials as – for example – things like cotton and wool will naturally absorb some metals (most often trace Iron, and sometimes other elements) from the environment.] I love how soft and squishy this pillow is, and I especially appreciate that the cover is organic cotton – and that the entire pillow is machine-washable! Here’s a little video I posted on Instagram of when I “unboxed” the pillow that I tested for this article:

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Lead Poisoning Prevention (@leadsafemama)

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These pillows range from $69 to $139 on the Naturepedic website (depending on the size) — and right now (through August 15, 2022), if you choose to buy one of these pillows (or any other products on their website) Naturepedic will contribute 20% of what you spend back to Lead Safe Mama, LLC in support of our work, if you start your shopping by clicking through from one of our links. They are also having a 20% off “Fourth-of-July” sale that has been extended through July 10, 2022 (with 20% off, plus free shipping on eligible purchases!) You can check out these pillows on their website by clicking this link!

Here’s the description of this pillow from Naturepedic’s website:

“A luxurious fiber-based pillow that provides comfort in its simplest form.  Naturepedic PLA is derived entirely from sugarcane.  Outer cover is 100% certified organic cotton.”

For comparison, please check out this article with test results for a Tempurpedic brand pillow – which tested positive for Antimony and Lead!

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FULL XRF Test Results for the Naturpedic PLA Pillow

Reading #1) Focus on sewn seam (fabric with thread)
60-second test

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): 28 +/- 3 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 66 +/- 22 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #2) Focus on center of pillow (no stitching in testing window)
120-second test

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 97 +/- 26 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

Links to Naturepedic’s site are affiliate links – if you purchase something after clicking on one of these links (through August 15, 2022) Naturepedic will contribute 20% of what you spend back to Lead Safe Mama, LLC in support of our independent consumer goods testing and childhood Lead poisoning prevention advocacy work. Aflink: https://shrsl.com/3lpfi

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-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 (and separate components) are each tested multiple times, to confirm the test results for each component tested and reported on. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.