October 16, 2022 – Sunday
When tested with an XRF instrument, the paint on the outside of this Disney characters-themed carafe tested positive for Lead at more than 75,000 parts per million. For context, the amount of Lead that is considered unsafe / toxic / illegal in the paint, glaze, or coating of a modern item manufactured today and intended for use by children is 90 ppm Lead or higher. The paint on this carafe tested positive for 75,400 ppm Lead [note: it is settled science that there is there is no safe level of Lead exposure to humans], and 2,900 ppm Cadmium (a known carcinogen).
Disney has a terrible track record — both for creating toxic products, and also for allowing licensing to others who create toxic products with Disney branding. I think this one piece is especially shocking, because of the level of innocence and purity conveyed by the very nature of the beloved iconic images on the product. Here’s a link to more articles and posts related to Disney products (and their test results).
OF COURSE this would be used for a CHILD’s birthday, or similar special event…but because it is “servingware“, it is not regulated for Lead content in the same way that “children’s items” are. Separately, one might argue that it is not a problem that this item is painted with high-Lead containing paint because the paint is “only on the outside”. [Because the “only on the outside” argument is one we hear quite often, here at Lead Safe Mama, LLC, I drafted an entire article dedicated to explaining why that is problematic. You can read that article here on this link (and if you are looking for that article, to share it with someone in the future – just put “only on the outside” in the search bar at the top of any page of this website)].
Below are the full XRF test results for one section of paint on this carafe (the yellow of Donald’s bill). It is important to note that all colors of paint on this object tested positive for similarly high levels of Lead (in the multiple-tens-of-thousands ppm) in every test. Please note also that this is a “Made in USA” product, with “USA” clearly stamped on the bottom. There is also a maker’s mark, and I tried to capture that in the photos below. If anyone can help me decipher that (and if you happen to know more information about the year this may have been manufactured/sold), please do share that with me. Thank you!
60-Second Test
Repeated multiple times to confirm the results
- Lead (Pb): 75,400 +/- 2,100 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 2,900 +/- 141 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 2,975 +/- 447 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 854 +/- 108 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 723 +/- 71 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 391 +/- 44 ppm
- Manganese (Mn): 1,087 +/- 260 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 22,600 +/- 1,800 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 1,387 +/- 195 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 480 +/- 64 ppm
- Bismuth (Bi): 264 +/- 91 ppm
- No other metals discovered when testing in “consumer goods mode” using XRF technology
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.
Lead and Cadmium — Yuck ! I see similar items on Ebay that say they are Anchor Hocking glass, possibly from late 1970s?
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