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 four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).
- Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
- Since 2009, Tamara has been conducting XRF testing (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).
- Recent notable press… There has been too much to mention already in 2024! Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!
This is an ad-free page.
Updated: December 21, 2023
Here’s a “private” preview screener link to watch my documentary film (on childhood Lead poisoning in America today) for free.
- The film is 92 minutes long, with a scene in the credits, so I request that folks watch through to the very end (Noam Chomsky has the last word)!
- It has interviews with top scientists, experts, politicians, policymakers, and parents of Lead poisoned children across the country.
- It also has footage from my presentation with Bernie Sanders in Flint in 2016.
- The film has music donated by The Who, Maia Sharp, Tom Waits, and others. Jon Fishman (drummer for Phish) is an Executive Producer of the project.
- We are still looking for a partner to help us with national and international distribution via Netflix, Amazon, or other streaming channels (so if you have any connections there, please let us know). We understand we may need to rework (and update) the film at this point in order for them to be interested in the project, and we are 100% willing to do that.
- As far as this version of the film goes, there are minor things left to do before officially completing the project (final credits, final music/music rights/final graphics, etc.), but most viewers think it “looks finished” as it is.
- Here’s the link: https://vimeo.com/156169133/7915741044.
- …
- …
- …
- …
- …
- Pet Peeve: It is frustrating when people contact me and say things like “I watched most of it” or “I got through half of it,” and then want to ask me questions.
- If you want to personally ask me questions, I respectfully request that you watch the whole thing first (preferably with the sound on and in one sitting).
- I took the time (years of my life, actually) to make this a resource with the express intention of helping answer as many of your questions related to the issue as possible.
- I did this since there are insufficient science-based (unbiased) sources of information without political and corporate influence online.
- I did this since there is not enough time in the day to talk to everyone personally — and because I wish I had had a resource like this when my kids were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005.
My family and I just finished watching this. Amazing. Sad. Scary. Motivating. And just very well done.
Best part: my husband, who doesn’t swear (unlike me) said holy f at the end. And right now he’s searching online for lead test swab kits (don’t worry, I’ll mention to him how you’ve said the swab testing has limitations). If this movie can get through to people like him who care, but aren’t so specific or focused in their concern, then I think that’s a huge swath of the population. This movie just made my job a lot easier.
And I agree, targeting the wives (partners etc—I realize this may not sound very inclusive) of contractors and such is the way to go.
Thank you for this wonderful comment! Could I share your comment publicly on my social media channels (without your name if you prefer?) Please let me know. Thank you!
Help! Grandson is 16.7. He’s only one and we were hopeful the stick wasn’t accurate but the blood draw is still 16.7. I can’t find any lead paint in house my daughter purchased in February but I know the house is the source. Our county offers very little help. Who can we call?
I copied it without any of your personal info and shared it. Hopefully that’s ok. I love sharing feedback like this because it often encourages others to watch the film.
I watched the movie a few months back. It was so eye opening and made a huge impact on me. I convinced my husband to allow me to purge nearly all of our beloved dishes, including our beautiful Italian countryside, made in Mylasia, Mikasa dishes ( we have used for the past 15 years ). We replaced with Anchor Hocking, white Corelle and others you recommend. I am still waiting and hoping for replacements for my Kitchenaid mixer. It sits as an extinct dinosaur on my counter, as there are no stainless replacements for my model, as yet. We have had to do this over a several months in order to spread out the cost. But, we feel so much better about what we’re eating off of and using for our grandchildren when they’re over. It was tragic dumping all of those pieces into the trash cans. I cried a few times. It also made me angry that within our own country we are not safe. I naively trusted that our country has high standards in place to protects us. Clearly they do not!
It also broke my heart to watch your family going through the agony of exposure to lead and the fallout of that. Truly heartbreaking! I applaud you for your efforts on behalf of not just your own family, but ours as well. You have been gifted to teach and tell others. Thank you. You are a blessing to those of us who would not have known if not for your generous gift.
Thank you.
The movie was gripping and intense, watched it to the end in one breath.
The housing situation reminded me of when we lived in San Diego, CA. A large part of the city is covered in highly leaded paint (we had one house’s paint tested at a lab) housing from decades ago. With the recent retail-estate boom there (past 20-30 years or so) a lot of the houses are being renovated! Contractors are for the most part using the unsafe lead removal methods you describe in the movie, and the city is simply not funding anywhere near what they need to monitor and enforce lead safe practice’s. ( As told to us directly by a city official when we contacted them about unsafe demolition of a neighbors leaded house) We found leaded paint chips on the sidewalk where people were walking their kids.. Not surprising when looking at the zip code information for this old neighborhood we lived in, we found it to be one of the highest zip codes for lead poisoning in children in the city. (I believe the government keeps records like this all over the country) As renovations continue like this throughout the old neighborhoods in the city, I am very concerned about the potential for a lead poisoning tsunami in the city.
There is a great video on YouTube from Mark Rober about how many times people habitually touch their face during the day without realizing it. He was talking specifically about this with relation to spreading germs, but I immediately though about how this is very relevant when we are thinking about lead poisoning and how we may get it without even realizing, even as adults. The video is called “How to see germs spread experiment” by Mark Rober, on YouTube. It may be interesting information to include in the final version of the movie to explain just how easily lead can get from the environment to inside your body!
How ironic is it for this situation to exist in the state that considers themselves smarter and more knowledgeable than the rest of the country about environmental dangers? What a joke they are!
Thank you so much for making this film and for all your work. So generous. Thank you to your whole family.
I have retired now from a career as a conservation architect and I am starting a pollinator farm. Toxins of all kinds can harm pollinators, so I am learning lots. I am also surrounded by old buildings and some old paint.
Thank you for all the info. Such a sad and shocking story. Something we all have to face into.
I am sending the link to your movie to everyone I can think of. I will also contact the Lead Sheet Association in the UK today and send them your movie. They are the people architects consult about lead roofs.
The safe working practices around lead in UK seem to be patchy. The peeling paint is not taken as seriously as it should be. We need a public education campaign here for this.
I am also asking companies I have shopped with to confirm whether or not there is lead in their products. Hope it helps wake them up.
The auyervedic system of cooking says sprouted mung beans can remove toxins including lead. I think this is worth investigating further with people who know more than I do. I have sprouted mung beans for a long time now.
For years I used reverse osmosis water for drinking and feeding a family. Now I find that it can become too empty of minerals and end up acting like a weak acid and corroding the electric kettle exposing people to heavy metals.
I have gone back to tap water and am working with the water company to try and get pipes checked as it is not zero lead tap water, but still within the ‘legal limit’. We have to run the taps for two minutes and draw off water for the day. That makes a huge difference. The water company say the water leaves the treatment plant with no lead. So it’s the pipes. We are working together to sort it out. A half good news story for you.
Thank you again.
Such important work you are doing.
How can I watch the film?
Click the image of the film above.
Tamara, thanks for sharing all invested time in doing lead poisoning research
Your sharing will save lives and diseases from these toxines that many companies or government are not taking too seriously
Congratulations for your huge work to keep us inform
Thank you!
These stories are just horrifying! As is the loss of generational awareness of the dangers of lead exposure.
In my country the peeling paint on verandahs and cots was a big issue long before my time. I only learned about it doing a degree in Medical Laboratory Science. Did you know you can visualise lead poisoning as basophilic stippling of some of the red blood cells in a blood film?