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 July of 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for five product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!

If you now own or previously owned this product, please take a moment to file a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) violation report, using this simple online form linked here.

Home test kits will likely not work when testing for Lead in the paint on this particular product (however, if you would like to try testing yours at home, this home test kit is currently the most reliable option: affiliate link). NOTE: This product is positive for unsafe levels of Lead in the paint whether or not it tests positive with a reactive agent home test kit. The paint also tests positive for Mercury and Cadmium — neither of which is detectable with a home test kit.

Please note: The Lead-paint has been used for the markings on the glass bottles only; the plastic versions of these products DO NOT have this issue.

More about this specific NUK brand baby bottle

The item in the photograph above is an actual NUK brand glass baby bottle that Lead Safe Mama, LLC acquired and tested for Lead using XRF technology. We hired a professional photographer to photograph this Lead-painted item specifically for our 2023 New York City Subway Public Service Announcement (PSA) Campaign informing the public about the issue of Lead paint on baby bottles.

Date the example in this photograph was purchased: May 31, 2021. Details here.
Date Lead Safe Mama, LLC first published test results for this specific bottle: December 19, 2021 (link to article).
Manufacturer: NUK/ Newell Brands, based in Germany.
Country of Manufacture: Germany (Zeven).
How Lead Safe Mama, LLC acquired this item: a Lead Safe Mama reader in Tennessee purchased this glass baby bottle on Amazon (based in Seattle, Washington) and shipped it directly (from Amazon) to Lead Safe Mama, LLC (in Portland, Oregon) for testing.
The issue with this product: decorative and measurement markings on glass components are made of high-Lead paint. The level of Lead in the paint on this product is so high that it is unquestionably illegal per the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).
XRF test results:
- Lead (Pb): 14,600 +/- 100 parts per million (ppm)
- Cadmium (Cd): 168 +/- 4 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 38 +/- 8 ppm
- The above test results are for the painted measurement markings on the glass component of this product, with testing done using XRF instrumentation specifically designed to test for Lead (and other heavy metals) in consumer goods. These results are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
- The legal limit (dictated by the CPSIA) for Lead in the paint or coating of any component of items manufactured for use by children (items manufactured after 2008) is 90 ppm Lead.
- 14,600 ppm Lead is far in excess of the 90 ppm legal limit.
- The paint also tested positive for two other highly toxic heavy metals: Cadmium and Mercury.
Date CPSC informed: June 16, 2021 (link to June 2021 e-mail) and again on December 20, 2021 (link to December 2021 email).
Was the product recalled?: no. There has not yet been a recall of this specific product by either the manufacturer or the CPSC.
Reasons this product is unsafe:
1. Absent a recall, families who bought this product for their baby are unaware it is painted with Lead paint, and may still be using it for their children.
2. The Lead in the paint on these glass bottles can wear off onto the hands of babies and toddlers, and into the kitchen and home environments where they are used (especially with frequent use and subsequent frequent washing and sterilization).
3. It literally takes only a microscopic amount of Lead to poison a child; there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children. This study (link) discusses the general concern for Lead paint on the exterior surfaces of functional (food use) glassware.
Manufacturer reaction to these findings:
- The manufacturer’s response (June 21, 2021) to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings of Lead paint on their bottles was that it is ok these have Lead painted markings because they are not sold in the United States. (Link to post with their response — warning, foul language.)
  - Reminder: Their claim that these bottles are not sold/not available for purchase in the United States is not true. The bottles in question were sold by a company based in Seattle, Washington (Amazon), purchased by a mother based in Tennessee, and shipped to a mother in Oregon. They were also likely sold to countless others in the United States during this time.
- We also contacted the German government about this concern and they did not respond. (Link to June 21, 2021 letter.)
- When Lead Safe Mama, LLC submitted a notice of this violation (for this specific product) to the CPSC (December 2021) — in a letter that included details about several different NUK bottle patterns (with this design and five others) that are all in violation of the CPSIA — only one of the designs submitted was eventually recalled (in the summer of 2022 — link to recall).
  - We submitted this letter in this way (through a professional associate who used to work with the CPSC) because the CPSC had not taken action/not responded to our previous communications about this issue.
- In NUK’s July 2022 press release about the one recalled bottle design (with the gray and white star pattern) they were again dismissive of the issue — falsely stating that only 100 customers who purchased the bottles were impacted in the United States and also stating that it was not illegal for them to be selling Lead painted bottles in other countries. You can read that response (as well as several responses from mothers in other countries) at this link.
- NUK has apparently removed these bottles from being sold on Amazon (since the July 2022 recall).
Additional relevant information about this company: As noted above, another similar product (link to original June 2021 article) made by NUK (their glass baby bottle with a gray and white star pattern and the same issue as this bottle) was recalled by the CPSC on July 28, 2022 (more than a year after Lead Safe Mama, LLC initially reported on the product violation). This recall set a precedent that should have resulted in this bottle (the Lead-painted NUK bottle with the blue and white paper airplane design) being recalled as well.
- Link to details about this product and recall.
- Link to all of the Lead Safe Mama, LLC articles about this brand.

Goal/reason for including this product in this PSA campaign:

Given that the amount of Lead in the paint on the glass bottle far exceeds the legal limit for items intended for use by children of 90 ppm Lead, our goal is for the CPSC to finally issue a public recall announcement for this specific product.
The CPSC’s website states: “Failure to fully and immediately report this information may lead to substantial civil or criminal penalties. CPSC staff’s advice is ‘when in doubt, report.'” (See image below). Given it appears that NUK did not inform the CPSC of the issue with this exact product in a timely fashion (immediately upon learning of it) as legally required, nor did they initiate a recall when this was first brought to their attention — and, perhaps most concerning, given their Lead-painted children’s products were still available for sale to consumers for more than three years after they were first made aware of this issue with their baby bottles (link here to article from February 28, 2019), we also request that the CPSC fine NUK/ Newell Brands with the maximum civil and criminal penalties allowable by law.
The concern with this product is especially egregious as it is an imported product (manufactured and sold by a non-U.S.-based company). We request that the CPSC look into whether or not NUK is violating any product import laws as well (in importing a toxic, unsafe, illegal product).
If you own/have owned one of these bottles, please submit a report to the CPSC at this link and let the CPSC know that you request (now, in 2023) they initiate an immediate and formal public recall for these bottles. Thank you!