Introduction (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, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using 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. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023.
Sunday – October 23, 2022
There are five components of this bottle. All components tested well (no unsafe levels of toxicants were found). As anticipated with silicone products (based on the thousands of silicone products we have tested over the past 10+ years) trace levels of Cadmium were found in each of the silicone components. This is typical and the levels found are not considered to be concerning levels by any U.S. Federal or international regulatory standard.
The two most strict regulatory standards for total (XRF-detectable) Cadmium levels are the State of Washington (which requires that items intended for use by children, including but not limited to items used to feed children, have levels below 40 ppm Cadmium), and Denmark (which has a limit of 75 ppm Cadmium in consumer goods). The levels found in this particular baby bottle’s silicone components (when understood with the margin of error) were in the range of 8 to 16 parts per million Cadmium (very low, well within any relevant standards). To learn more about Cadmium here’s a link with some background.
Note: metals listed below that are highlighted in blue are present at the levels noted but are not considered to be at all concerning for this application/ with this product. Metals highlighted in red are generally concerning, but in this case not at the levels found.
Reading #1) Outer pink hard plastic/body of the bottle
60-second test (all tests on all components are repeated multiple times to confirm the levels of the various metals found and one full reading set is reported for each component.
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): 198 +/- 115 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): non-detect
- Indium (In): non-detect
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #2) Opaque pink hard plastic of nipple collar
60-second test
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): non-detect
- Indium (In): non-detect
- Titanium (Ti): 1,330 +/- 230 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #3) Transparent pink hard plastic bottle cap (dome)
60-second test
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): non-detect
- Indium (In): non-detect
- Titanium (Ti): non-detect
- Iron (Fe): 45 +/- 21 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #4) Inner clear silicone of bottle
60-second test
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 12 +/- 4 ppm
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): 318 +/- 15 ppm
- Indium (In): 15 +/- 5 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 41 +/- 22 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #5) Silicone nipple (also clear)
60-second test
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 12 +/- 4 ppm
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Selenium (Se): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): 341 +/- 15 ppm
- Indium (In): 15 +/- 5 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Are these heavy metals usually found in 100% food grade silicone? Concerned about teethers and the supplies for eating for kids (plates in high chair, cups, etc)
Have you come across any glass, lead-free baby bottles that are compatible with natural rubber nipples instead of silicone?
Thank you and please link to Amazon so I can support you with this purchase. I’m also wondering if you have looked at the Comotomo bottles as I’m in line for them as a hand me down. Thanks!