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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 sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (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).
• All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
• Items that Lead Safe Mama, LLC reports on are tested multiple times to confirm the results published (for each component tested).
• Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February 2023 (March 2023 print edition) and The Guardian in November 2023.

Published: December 18, 2023

As background for each of these articles, I wanted readers to have the the following context:

• All U.S. federal agencies agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for human beings.
• There is currently no federal regulatory limit for total Lead content in most consumer goods — UNLESS they are items explicitly “intended for use by children.”
• Officially, dishware and kitchenware are not considered to be “items intended for use by children,” (!) consequently, there is currently no regulatory limit for total Lead content, as detectable by an XRF instrument, in these items. (!)
• LEAD: For context, according to U.S. federal regulations, any item made specifically “for use by children” must not test positive for Lead at levels above 90 ppm Lead in the paint, glaze, or coating, and also must not test positive for Lead at levels above 100 ppm Lead in the substrate (base material).
• The instrumentation used by Lead Safe Mama, LLC is the same instrumentation used by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission to screen consumer goods for toxicants (including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, Arsenic, etc.)
• There is no current U.S. federal regulation specifying any total Cadmium-content limit for most consumer goods.
• CADMIUM: The two current strictest regulatory standards for Cadmium content are the State of Washington’s regulatory limit (40 ppm, total content), and the Country of Demark’s total limit (75 ppm total content).
• Any item that tests below 90 ppm Lead in all components is considered (by Lead Safe Mama, LLC) to be “safe by all standards.”
• Any item that tests below 40 ppm Cadmium in all components is considered (by Lead Safe Mama, LLC) “safe by all standards.”
• We present this information to you (Lead Safe Mama readership, and our greater community) so you can make informed decisions about using products you already own or may be evaluating for purchase.
• For greater context about the “WHY” behind what we do here, click here.
• To learn more about sending an item in to Lead Safe Mama, LLC for testing (as part of the collaborative work we do with our community), click here.
• To read more about the testing methodology used by Lead Safe Mama, LLC, click here.
• To read more about Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s business model, click here.
• To make a contribution in support of the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC (or to support our work in other ways), click here.

Scroll down to see the exact test results for the 2021 Florida mug pictured. But first, some links to additional reading related to this article — each of the lines below is a link to another article about a Starbucks Mug (with test results for — and photos of — that mug):

1. Our Starbucks mugs overview article
2. The complete list of all starbucks mug-related articles on this website.
   • Note, there are several pages in this list and you need to click the “next page” link at the bottom of each page to see the additional pages.
3. 2019: Golden glazed ceramic Christmas mug: 15,700 ppm Lead
4. 2019: Christmas candy cane handle mug: 1,037 ppm Cadmium
5. 2018: “Been There Series” Oregon espresso mug: 247 ppm Cadmium
6. 2018: Brown-glazed ceramic mug: 513 ppm Lead
7. 2017:  “You Are Here Collection” California mug, 6,397 ppm Lead
8. 2016:  Black glazed espresso mug with white lettering, Lead-free!
9. 2016: White matte glaze mug. 89 ppm Lead
10. 2015: White ceramic double wall ceramic travel cup: 53 ppm Lead
11. 2015: Gold peace sign espresso mug, Lead-free!
12. 2014: White espresso mug: Lead-free!
13. 2013: Peru theme espresso mug, 16,900 ppm Lead
14. 2011: White ceramic-lined stainless steel travel mug: 63,549 ppm Lead (interior!)
15. 2009: Red & white “New bone china” glazed mug: 1,005 ppm Cadmium + 259 ppm Lead
16. 2009: Green glazed Design House Stockholm ceramic mug: 115 ppm Lead
17. 2008: White ceramic holiday mug, 11,200 ppm Lead
18. 2006: Green & white mug with pears & flowers design, 304 ppm Lead
19. 2006: White ceramic, stainless travel mug: 1,122 ppm Lead
20. 2000: “City Mug Collector Series” mug: 3,157 ppm Lead + 496 ppm Arsenic

XRF Test Results for the Starbucks “Been There Series” 2021 Florida Ceramic Mug \(pictured in this article)

Reading #1) On the exterior glaze of the mug

• Lead (Pb): 8,756 +/- 30 ppm – SEE NOTES ABOVE 
• Cadmium (Cd): 77 +/- 12 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 68 +/- 22 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Titanium (Ti): 10,400 +/- 2,100 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 3,055 +/- 600 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 679 +/- 184 ppm
• Cobalt (Co): 1,871 +/- 92 ppm

Reading #2) On the interor pink glaze of the mug

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): 66 +/- 21 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 1,625 +/- 400 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 240 +/- 93 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 7,010 +/- 451 ppm
• Zirconium (Zr): 17,400 +/- 1,000 ppm

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