My comment on a Joe Biden Instagram post just now (@POTUS) about Lead in water.

Friday – December 9, 2022

Here’s the full text of my comment just now:

“But this quote represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the concern. The pipes are only a small part of the problem. Fittings, fixtures and other components of the water delivery system were allowed to be labeled as “Lead-free” yet contain up to 8% Lead thanks to regulations put into effect under the Bush administration. This only recently changed. Faucets, fittings and fixtures up through 2020 can still have unsafe levels of Lead in them in components that can contaminate the water even if the pipes are Lead-free. You have to do the whole shebang… not just the pipes – or kiddos will continue to be poisoned, especially in communities with fluoridated water systems. (Chloramine + Fluoride in water systems chemically bonds to create the reaction of pulling 1000% (10x) more Lead out of the pipes than for systems with Chloramine alone (Lead that is made bioavailable in the water.)”

Here’s the link to this if you want to add to this comment – including asking Joe (my birthday twin) to have lunch with me to discuss the issue! 

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CONTINUE READING BELOW THE IMAGE

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Saturday – December 10, 2022

There have been quite a few comments in response to my comment on this thread with questions that I have taken the time to answer – some of them were “disappeared” by Instagram (because of settings folks have on tagging, etc.) – so I thought I would try to capture some of the more important ones here. Below is a screenshot of one such comment / question, followed by my response.  I will post more of these throughout the day as they come up.

Here’s my response to Jay Freer:

@jayfreer replace the lead pipes but communicate honestly to the American public that this will not – by default – mean that every kid in this country will be able to turn on the tap and drink clean water. For that to happen – fittings, fixtures and faucets (and lines within homes and to the street) would also need to be replaced and I am fairly certain that this plan does not include replacing internal lines in everyone’s homes – nor every faucet on every kitchen sink. For me it is about precision in language and this particular statement – Joe’s statement in this post – is not correlative or causal – the first part of the statement will not precipitate the second part of the statement given the scope of additional factors that need to be addressed for this to happen.

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Here’s another comment (and my response, which Instagram would not let me post):

Here’s my response to “afigurine”:

Hi “afigurine” I had posted a response but Instagram deleted it since you have your settings set to not allowing tagging. Here’s the gist of what I said: While it is a simplified summary the two phrases from Joe in this post are not necessarily correlative or causal. Getting rid of Lead pipes does not result (“automagically”) in clean water coming from the tap. The Infrastructure bill (to my knowledge) does not include replacing all Leaded fixtures, fittings, faucets and internal lines in homes and schools and other places where children spend time. I believe they are focusing on replacing internal lines in some schools AND on replacement of some some water delivery devices in schools (specifically water fountains) but most important here is that lines into people’s homes (from the street) may not be replaced (I cannot imagine they will replace the leaded lines into every home in the United States with the current plan – it’s not possible and would require a much bigger spend.) I know some cities are replacing Lead wicks to homes (the leaded connector piece that often connects the home to the city water system) – but I don’t believe this plan even covers replacing every Lead wick connector in the United States. Most important is that the plan does not cover replacing the leaded plumbing components INSIDE homes across America – specifically the “taps” and what connects a tap in a home to the city water system – so this simplification of language is therefore quite misleading as most kids in this country will NOT be able to turn on the TAP (in their home) and drink clean water once the lead pipes are removed. The Lead pipe replacement might actually not make much of a difference given most old lead pipes are decades (or a century or more?) old and are not currently leaching Lead because of the build up of minerals/ calcification on the inside of those pipes which prevents leaching. It’s simply much more of a complex issue and this statement is therefore misleading and will lead to unfulfilled expectations and much disappointment when all the pipes are replaced but the water in many places is still contaminated with Lead – at levels similar to what they were BEFORE the Lead pipe replacement.

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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. This year [2022], her work was also responsible for three CPSC product recalls — the Jumping Jumperoo recall (June, 2022); the Lead painted NUK baby bottle recall (July, 2022); and the Leaded Green Sprouts Insulated Stainless Steel Baby Bottles (November, 2022) — and she was recently featured in an NPR story about Lead in consumer goods (August, 2022); The Guardian (December, 2022); and an upcoming article in Consumer Reports (December, 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.