For those new to this 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 sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (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. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
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Published: November 4, 2023
I was asked (by a supporter of my work) about whether — and to what degree — I thought I was “directly helping families.”
In response to this inquiry, I thought that the best words to share would be the words of people who have been helped by this work. I posted in the Lead Poisoning Prevention With Lead Safe Mama Facebook group, inviting members to share any stories about how my work (or the work of the Lead Safe Mama community more broadly) has specifically helped them protect their families, so I could share it here. The comments people made in response to that post are below. Thank You to everyone who commented. If you have not yet commented and would like to, please add a comment in the comments section below on this article.
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I missed this on Facebook, but also want to say that just by reading Tamara’s blog I have learned so much and it has directly affected what I buy/keep/use in my home. Like others, I had no idea lead was so prevalent in both new and vintage items. Tamara is doing what the government should be doing, protecting us from getting lead into our bodies. Tamara is a testament to the impact one person can do, from educating us so we can protect our families to getting items recalled, she has certainly lowered the lead levels getting into surely thousands of people’s bodies. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, thank you so much for the work you do!