This is NOT the first #GreenSprouts baby product that has tested positive for unsafe levels of Lead. #RepeatOffender

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For those new to this 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). 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 of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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The image above is from Green Sprouts’ Instagram page, showing the bottles in question.

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Published: September 19, 2022 — Monday

I’ve thought about so many potential titles for this article, that it was hard to choose… Here are some of the others I considered:

• “I guess the #KnowBetterDoBetter philosophy is not in Green Sprouts canon. They #KnowBetter, but they decided to repeat the same mistakes.”
• “What the hell is wrong with Green Sprouts? We’ve been through this before Green Sprouts is selling baby bottles with Lead… again.”
• “Green Sprouts stainless steel insulated bottle positive for 468,800 ppm Lead in the sealing dot [90 ppm & up is unsafe for kids].”
• “Green Sprouts is at it again — making products with Lead and selling them to parents to use with their babies and toddlers as a ‘healthier choice’.”
• “Another baby bottle from Green Sprouts with Lead. Am I surprised? Sadly, not.”
• “When I discovered Green Sprouts was selling Lead-painted baby bottles in 2017, they sent their lawyers after me to try to get me to retract my statements. What do you think they are going to do this time?”
• “More #greenwashing by Green Sprouts: they are now selling another baby bottle with Lead, with language implying it is a ‘safer,’ more ‘environmentally-friendly’ choice (for your kids and the planet)!”

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Not the first time

This is not the first time that I have had to call out Green Sprouts/ iPlay for manufacturing a toxic product (a baby feeding product made with unsafe levels of Lead that is potentially accessible to the child using the product, when used as intended [in this case, because of a fundamentally flawed product design.])
Perhaps they will respond differently this time.
We will see.

Fundamentally the concern here is that parents have purchased this product as a SAFER CHOICE, something sold as non-toxic and free of so many bad things. They assume the product is also Lead-free (and Cadmium-free) even if that is not stated directly in the ad or packaging they saw. Even the suggestion made by the name of the company/ product line “Green Sprouts” was designed to instill confidence that the products that are sold by this company are inherently safe and made from natural and non-toxic materials. All of this is strengthened by their marketing language (see the screenshot at the top of this article as an example) reinforcing the natural/non-toxic branding and implied linked quality of products. For this product (the Green Sprouts Stainless Steel Insulated Baby Bottle) to test positive for a high level of Lead in any one component is a betrayal of the trust and confidence of customers.

The last time I found Lead in their products, Green Sprouts’ first response was to send threatening letters from their attorneys; then (after public pressure as a result of some news coverage combined with outrage expressed by Lead Safe Mama readers online) it is my understanding that they started the process for a voluntary recall… which they then later rescinded (i.e. they in fact never actually implemented a full public recall of the sippy cups with the Lead painted glass inserts).

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How things “went down” in & after 2017

• As a result of this public consumer pressure (all the while denying there was any problem with the Lead paint on their bottles [see communication #8 linked below]) — they did (apparently) stop manufacturing their Lead-painted glass sippy cup inserts. 
• Given I continued to find recently-introduced-into-the-home Lead-painted examples of these Green Sprouts products in families’ homes across the United States over the course of the past 5 years (subsequent to the initial discovery in 2017), the company appears to have simply continued to sell some or all of their existing inventory of Lead-painted baby bottles until that ran out — apparently not demanding the return of any those bottles from vendor’s inventories. 
• Following #GreenSproutsLeadedBabyBottleGate2017 it does appear however that they began shipping newer product inventories at some point — including some with unpainted glass inserts, and then later ones sporting Lead-free painted markings, which I have found in different colors of paint — including pink and green (the supply chain interventions undertaken in response to the findings that the paint they were using contained high levels of Lead).

The thing people don’t get about these types of products is that they stick around for years; three, four, five years or more is not an unusual life-span for a baby bottle/sippy cup — a product that is designed for use by both babies (as a bottle) and older children (as a sippy cup). They also can sit on stores’ inventory shelves for years if they invest in a lot of product. So the fact that BRAND NEW Lead-painted Green Sprouts products from five years ago are still found in families’ homes today is expected and therefore is upsetting at best — and verging on criminally irresponsible at worst.

To reiterate: In the 2017 incident, Green Sprouts’ parent company (iPlay) were made aware of the problem (through my testing of their products) and – in the end they chose to NOT issue a full recall. They also did NOT make an easily-findable notice about their Lead-painted products available on their website (in the form of an alert or warning), and now, to top it off — (after promising to do better — see letter linked below) they have manufactured ANOTHER baby bottle with Lead — this one with 100x more Lead in it (in the solid Lead sealing dot on the bottom) than their previous toxic product!

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Fast Forward to Today
How this insulated stainless bottle came to be tested by me

• A Lead Safe Mama Instagram Follower/ Reader purchased two of these Green Sprouts Insulated Stainless Steel baby bottles for her baby to use earlier this summer (2022).
• After seeing an Amazon review about a concern for Lead in these types of insulated stainless baby bottles (an issue that was discovered through Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s 2017 testing of insulated stainless steel baby bottles made with similar construction [Pura Kiki brand]) she became concerned because the bottom caps of both of her child’s Green Sprouts bottles had popped off (with one popping off after about a month of use and the other popping off after just a couple of days of use by her toddler.)
• She realized these baby bottles – through the defect of the bottoms popping off – might be exposing her baby to Lead-based solder.
• She contacted me, and I asked if she would send me one of her bottles for testing.
• Having tested so many bottles of this type of design, I was fairly certain that it was that same type of high-Lead-content solder that was used in many similar insulated— and that the solder had now become fully exposed with the bottom cap failure.  My testing confirmed this.

Continue reading below the image.

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Here’s the text from the letter she sent in to me with the bottle:

Dear Tamara

Thank you for testing this. It is so hard for parents to make informed decisions on which products to buy for their children, when companies are not transparent about the materials they use and almost everything is manufactured in China these days. The work you do is so important and I think you for your research and advocacy. 

This is the Green Sprouts Stainless Steel Sip / Straw Cup made from “Sprout Ware Plant Plastic” and “Double Walled Stainless Steel.” “No BPA, BPS, BPF, or Melamine.” Sold on Amazon. I own 2 of these and the paint comes off immediately. This cup is less than a month old – never placed in the dishwasher.

If the paint does not test positive for Lead, but the bottom “covered” part does, it it still unsafe?

Warmly, S.

Continue reading below the photo of Mama S’s baby drinking from one of the bottles in question.

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What’s the problem with this bottle (pictured)?

I want to start by saying that I think it is really interesting that this stainless steel insulated baby bottle by Green Sprouts is essentially a knock-off of the Pura Kiki bottle made with the same materials and the same construction methods. I think this is particularly interesting because Green Sprouts not only replicated the product (albeit with their unique shape elements, colors and branding – and without the silicone sleeve) but they also replicated the exact FLAWS and LEAD-ISSUES that were present with the Pura Kiki bottles.

You would think that if they were going to knock off a product like this they would do some research into the the issues with the product and the concerns for Lead in that product ESPECIALLY given the Green Sprouts brand previously had issues with Lead in their products. [Speculation: perhaps this Green Sprouts product is sourced from the same Chinese manufacturer as the Pura Kiki insulated stainless baby bottles— maybe even the same facility — as often turns out to be the case with offshore-sourced consumer products that share identical appearance/fabrication techniques — and consequently identical toxicant profiles].

As a result of the above considerations – in discussing the problems with this Green Sprouts product, I will simply be re-hashing all of the same issues previously discussed ad nauseam here on this website as they related to the Pura Kiki Lead-contaminated baby bottles back in 2017/2018, etc.

1. These bottles are made with a “bottom cap” construction.
2. The metal bottom cap covers a nearly-solid-Lead sealing dot.
3. The company (likely) assumes / asserts that in normal use by a toddler or baby that the bottom cap will not come off.
4. The assumption above in #3 is simply wrong. The bottom cap of the Green Sprouts insulated stainless baby bottles apparently (as reported by customers and demonstrated by the bottle pictured in this article) often pops off quickly (within days or weeks of being put into service) and easily with normal use as intended by the target population of intended users (babies and toddlers – who frequently throw or drop their bottles!).
5. When the bottom cap comes off, most parents don’t realize that the product has a high-Lead sealing dot. Parents may naturally assume (based on the marketing of the product) that the entire product is Lead-free / safer / non-toxic (and they therefore may assume that it is safe to continue using with the exposed sealing dot, when in fact, IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE TO USE ONCE THE LEAD DOT IS EXPOSED).
6. All relevant federal agencies (EPA, CDC, CPSC, HUD, FDA, etc,) agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children.
7. When the bottom cap on these baby bottles comes off, the Lead is accessible and bio-available — and not safe for use by ANY children (of any age.)
8. Children tend to interact with dimples or textured elements of bottles when they are drinking – so if the bottom cap comes off, it would not be uncommon to see a child actually rubbing the exposed Lead sealing dot on the bottom of a bottle like this (and then potentially subsequently putting their fingers in their mouth.)
9. Because there is a risk of the bottom cap falling off and exposing the user (young children and babies) to significant amounts of neurotoxic Lead, these bottles should be recalled immediately.

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How much Lead is “too much” Lead?

In the “paint, glaze or coating” of an item intended for use by children, the amount of Lead that is considered unsafe (and illegal) is 90 ppm or above; in the “substrate” of an item (in the case of an object like this) no component should test positive for Lead levels of 100 ppm or greater. Because the sealing dot on the bottom of this bottle became exposed with normal use as intended, and since this component of the bottle tested positive for 468,800 ppm Lead – see details below (4,688 times the legal limit), hopefully the Consumer Product Safety Commission will deem this product to be obviously unsafe for kids / illegal for sale – mandating a recall.

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Whatcha gonna DO about it this time, Tamara?

We are submitting a formal complaint report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission alerting them of the concern with this bottle.

• It is important to note that this is a NEW bottle – a product purchased new in the summer of 2022 — and it was not “mishandled or abused” [i.e. beyond the normally-expected behavior of the intended users].
• This bottle was also never washed in the dishwasher. 
• It was used as intended by an infant, and the bottom cap came off – making the product faulty (and dangerous to children) – even with use as intended.
• If the company tries to respond to this article (or to the CPSC complaint) stating the bottle must have been misused for this to happen, that would be false and purely a deflection of responsibility for creating this hazard.

If you would like to join us in reporting this violation to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), we encourage you to do so – especially if you have one of these bottles. If you do submit a report, we would truly appreciate it if you could upload a comment on this article (in the comments section below) letting us know that you did so – so we can know how many reports have been submitted. Our hope is that with a mass action by Lead Safe Mama readers, we will be encouraging the CPSC to formally demand a recall for this product and that this will also serve as a precedent for getting recalls initiated for baby feeding / child feeding products of similar construction.

• Here is the link to submit the violation report.
• Here’s a link to our full report and the language we included in our report – please feel free to copy our language for your violation report if that helps to simplify the reporting process for you. 

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Links to the previous exchange with green sprouts (from 2017)

1. First, here’s the whole category of Green Sprouts tagged articles on this website.
2. February 10, 2017 — original letter to Green Sprouts
3. February 25, 2017 — letter from Green Sprouts attorneys
4. February 27, 2017 — summary of supporting information about the concern for Lead paint on Green Sprouts’ glass insert sippy cups
5. February 27, 2017 — summary of coverage of the issue to this date
6. February 27, 2017 — Dr. Mercola coverage of the issue
7. February 28, 2017 — My response to the attorneys for Green Sprouts
8. March 1, 2017 — iPlay/ Green Sprouts response to my response from February 28th

Quote from their March 1, 2017 letter linked above (it seems like they forgot about this with this new product): 

“We appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. We have learned from this experience and are implementing more rigorous processes in our quality assurance procedures to ensure the health and safety of our products. We hope to build a stronger relationship with you and your community so that you will be a resource to us and that we can regain your trust and work together to continue to develop and manufacture natural, healthy and safe baby products.  

– Sincerely, Becky Cannon and Emi Kubota”

(After they sent this letter, I never heard from them again.)

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What I hope/expect from Green Sprouts this time around…

While predicting the future is not my job, I am hoping that THIS TIME they take a swift, positive public series of actions moving forward.

• I hope they take this article for what is — (disappointed/upset) science-based reporting of a real concern. (Upset because of the repeat offense part of this concern!)
• I hope they fix the issue.
• I hope they issue a full recall & offer to replace the Leaded products they previously sold to families with Lead-free products (free of charge).

However, IF they still have the same legal team that they had back in 2017 (and if they forgot about that last letter sent to me in March of 2017), I expect that instead they may again send a threatening letter from their attorney team asking me to take down my public statements on this issue (this article), which of course, I will politely refuse to do.

As we have done with so many other threatening letters from lawyers — we promise you (Lead Safe Mama readership) that any communications with this company (whether positive or negative reactions to this information) will be published here on this website.

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Note To Green Sprouts:

This is an invitation for you to shine, Green Sprouts; this an invitation for you to NOT make bad decisions — and instead follow the corporate philosophy espoused in your advertising (the first image at the top of this article), and be an inspiring example of corporate accountability — for your customers (the babies who use your products) and the environment.

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What YOU (parents) should do in the meantime… (if you own one of these bottles)

1. Stop using your bottle immediately.
2. Find the purchase information/ receipt and set it aside with the bottle (in a sealed ziplock baggie) for the time-being.
3. File a violation report with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (link above) noting that your child was put at risk (please note your child’s age – where and when you purchased the bottle and other relevant requested information in the report.)
4. Subscribe to the Lead Safe Mama newsletter (it’s free) — and we will alert you as soon as a formal recall has been announced (or as soon as there are any other new developments related to this product).
5. Check out Lead-free bottle options — there are lots of test results for specific bottle brands and examples listed here on this website (this video shows you how to efficiently search the site), and our shopping site lists some known Lead-free bottles as well (link here.)

Thank you for reading this article. Please share it with any relevant parenting communities you may be a part of.

Tamara Rubin
Owner — Lead Safe Mama, LLC
LeadSafeMama.com
#LeadSafeMama

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The full XRF Test results for each component of the bottle pictured are below. There are FIVE readings. The fifth reading is the reading for the leaded component.

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Reading #1) Blue Painted Metal Exterior
304 Stainless Steel

• Chromium (Cr): 184,100 +/- 1.400 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 81,300 +/- 1,400 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 1,481 +/- 249 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 11,000 +/- 1,000 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 716,800 +/- 2,300 ppm
• Vanadium (V): 1,700 +/- 336 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 3,517 +/- 1,169 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #2) Unpainted Stainless Rim
304 Stainless Steel

• Chromium (Cr): 183,900 +/- 1,300 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 80,900 +/- 1,300 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 1,137 +/- 214 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 11,600 +/- 900 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 717,500 +/- 2,100 ppm
• Vanadium (V): 1,724 +/- 311 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 3,313 +/- 1,083 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #3) Blue Plastic Collar

• Copper (Cu): 46 +/- 12 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 779 +/- 292 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #4) Clear Silicone Nipple

• Cadmium (Cd): 18 +/- 6 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 16 +/- 9 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 21 +/- 13 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 411 +/- 22 ppm
• Indium (In): 27 +/- 8 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Continue reading below the images.

Reading #5) Exposed sealing dot on bottom of bottle

• Lead (Pb): 468,800 +/- 4,000 ppm 
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Tin (Sn): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Antimony (Sb): non-detect
• Selenium (Se): non-detect
• Barium (Ba): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): 140,500 +/- 3,400
• Nickel (Ni): 2,032 +/- 563 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 36,500 +/- 1,200 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 6,395 +/- 491 ppm
• Manganese (Mn): 52,400 +/- 2,600 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 290,200 +/- 3,500 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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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. Her work was also responsible for two CPSC product recalls in the summer of 2022, the Jumping Jumperoo recall (June 2022) and the Lead painted NUK baby bottle recall (July 2022) and was featured in an NPR story about Lead in consumer goods in August of 2022. 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 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.