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More Christmas Buttons
(Article & Category Links)

    

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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 six 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!

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We are not currently accepting new samples of artificial Christmas trees for testing.

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Published: June 5, 2023
Updated: November 25, 2023

Over the years, in response to testing and reporting on several artificial Christmas tree samples that were positive for incredibly high/unsafe levels of both Lead (a neurotoxin) and Antimony (a known carcinogen), we have accepted a small number of additional samples (clippings from artificial Christmas trees) sent in by Lead Safe Mama readers for testing.

The goal of this testing is to help qualify which brands of artificial Christmas trees might test better than others from a toxicant-profile perspective (and specifically which brands might be consistently Lead-free and Antimony-free across all models). If you would like to see more of the artificial Christmas tree samples we have tested and reported on (along with their full test results), please click this link — we currently have 10 related articles in this category.

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Most Important:  
Lead Safe Mama’s general guidelines for limiting toxicant exposure from artificial Christmas trees

1. Avoid pre-lit artificial Christmas trees entirely: These products are (by law, in most locations) treated with flame retardant chemical cocktails that can include high levels of either (or both) Lead and Antimony.
2. If none of the other options discussed below work for you and you feel that you must buy/ own an artificial Christmas tree, look for newer options without integrated lighting — ideally models of Artificial trees manufactured after 2015.
   • If you go ahead with the above advice and are choosing/ have chosen an unlit tree (and if you are in need of purchasing safer options for Christmas tree lights), take a look at our articles discussing safer (less toxic) Christmas light options by clicking the “Christmas Lights” button above.
3. Based on the testing Lead Safe Mama, LLC has conducted to date, the best brands/ vendors (for newer (post-2015) non-toxic (less toxic) unlit trees are Ikea, Target, or Home Depot.
   • New (manufactured in 2020 or later) UNLIT (not-pre-lit) artificial Christmas trees from Home Depot, Target, and Ikea have been consistently testing well (negative or low for toxicants/ heavy metals — including Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, and Antimony).
4. In the absence of independent testing (confirming safety from a toxicant perspective), it is our recommendation that you do not use ANY artificial Christmas trees manufactured before 2013 as they may test positive for high levels of multiple toxicants (example linked here).
   • If you own an older (pre-2013) artificial Christmas tree (especially if it is a tree with integrated lighting), you may want to set it aside and get it tested at your earliest opportunity (some health departments offer free periodic testing of consumer goods, and we — Lead Safe Mama, LLC — travel the United States each October doing outreach events with free consumer goods testing as well). The same advice goes for pre-lit garlands and other accessories with lighting elements that plug into the wall.
   • You cannot test these products yourself at home with any sort of home test kit, they must be tested with an XRF instrument or with (more expensive) laboratory testing. Reasons for this:
     • The home test kits don’t work on most consumer goods.
     • Home test kits have a low threshold of detection of 500 ppm or 600 ppm Lead and so cannot detect Lead levels below that threshold (and anything over 90 ppm Lead is considered harmful to children).
     • Home test kits do not test for metals other than Lead (specifically they do not test for Antimony — a known carcinogen often found in pre-lit artificial Christmas trees).
   • Subscribe to the Lead Safe Mama newsletter (which is free — linked here) and we will let you know when we are next accepting Christmas tree samples for testing (likely not until at least January 2024).
5. Whenever possible (allergies permitting), please consider avoiding artificial trees entirely.
6. From an environmental responsibility perspective, we like to encourage the following alternatives to artificial trees:
   • Live-potted plants (that are either outside full-time [decorated in place, outside] or only brought inside for the holiday season) or other living Christmas tree alternatives. These don’t need to be large; consider scaling down this holiday season!
     • Example: My youngest son wanted a Christmas tree one year even though we don’t celebrate Christmas and (as a compromise) I bought him a small rosemary bush that was in the shape of a Christmas tree and could later be planted in the yard and used for cooking.
   • Reusable, unpainted, handmade natural wood frame trees (you can actually find patterns online to make these yourself at home — image below). Here’s an example on Etsy.
   • Try making a recyclable paper or cardboard tree (with your kids or grandkids) that you tape (or otherwise affix) to the wall. You can also decorate it with handmade (two-dimensional) paper or cardboard ornaments!
   • Have your presents surround your fireplace (where you hang your stockings) instead of having them surround a tree — as long as it is safe to do so!
7. If you have too many ornaments for your new (smaller) tree alternative, consider putting string along the edge of your ceiling and hanging your ornaments around the house (instead of trying to hang them all on a tree). This also helps to keep any unsafe ornaments out of reach of small children.

Wooden Tree Example

Here’s the Lead Safe Mama Christmas overview article (with other tips for a safer Christmas) if you have not yet read it.

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Earlier this year (January 2023) a reader sent in the pictured samples of her Christmas tree, along with the following information:

• 7.5 ft. Wesley Pine Christmas tree from Home Depot Online Purchase
• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-7-5-ft-Wesley-Pine-Christmas-tree-TG76M3BAQD00/312884711
• Purchased in November of 2020 
• Company: Polygroup Trees
• Response to her inquiry with the manufacturer: “Dear Valued Consumer, thank you for your question. Polygroup trees and light strings do not use materials containing lead and can comply with ROHs test. The tree does have phthalates, however they DO NOT contain any of these phthalates below: DINP – diisononyl phthalate DIDP – diisodecyl phthalate DNOP – Di(n-octyl) phthalate DEHP – di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate DBP – Di-n-butyl phthalate BBP – Benzylbutylphthalate BPA – bisphenol A Please feel free to contact us, at 888-919-0070 or warranty@polygroup.com, if you have additional questions about your tree.”

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Below are the XRF test results for the two pictured samples of clippings from this artificial Christmas tree sent in by “N.” from Oakland, California. 

Sample #1) Branch with “spiky” “natural” looking needles
60-second test (repeated multiple times to confirm results):

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Tin (Sn): 941 +/- 27 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Selenium (Se): non-detect
• Barium (Ba): 194 +/- 75 ppm
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Antimony (Sb): non-detect
• Titanium (Ti): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 4,844 +/- 217 ppm
• Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
• No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.

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Sample #2) Branch with flat “needles” and square ends
60-second test (repeated multiple times to confirm results):

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Tin (Sn): 574 +/- 21 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Selenium (Se): non-detect
• Barium (Ba): 237 +/- 66 ppm
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Antimony (Sb): non-detect
• Titanium (Ti): 8,003+/- 2334
• Iron (Fe): 571 +/- 102 ppm
• Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
• No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.

While this tree did not test positive for Antimony in the branch samples sent to us for testing, it is very likely there is Antimony (in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 ppm) in the integrated lighting components of the tree.

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For additional Christmas-related pieces & articles on this website, check out the links below.

1. Christmas: https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas/
2. More Artificial Christmas Tree Test Results: https://tamararubin.com/category/artificial-christmas-tree/
3. Christmas Ornaments: https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas-ornaments/
4. Christmas Mugs: https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas-mugs/
5. Christmas China: https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas-china/
6. Christmas Decorations: https://tamararubin.com/category/christmas-decoration/
7. Santa: https://tamararubin.com/category/santa/

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