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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. (!)
• 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 Lead Safe Mama, LLC uses 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.
• 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) to be “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 Lead Safe Mama, LLC uses, 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.

Additional reading for those interested in this subject — more test results for handmade ceramic items:

1. Handmade Ceramic Mug
2. Handmade Ceramic Bowl
3. Another Handmade Ceramic Mug
4. Another Handmade Ceramic Bowl
5. Handmade Polish Mug
6. The “Handmade Ceramic Mug” category of articles on this website.
7. The “Handmade Ceramics” category of articles on this website (more than just the mugs).

XRF test results for the hand-thrown, hand-glazed ceramic cup pictured in this article:

Reading #1) On the exterior glaze of the cup

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Titanium (Ti): 26,900 +/- 2,700 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 12,500 +/- 600 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 164 +/- 48 ppm
• Zirconium (Zr): 274 +/- 18 ppm
• Balance: 959,100 ppm

Reading #2) On the unglazed bottom of the cup

• Lead (Pb): 17 +/- 10 ppm*
• Cadmium (Cd): 13 +/- 5 ppm*
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Arsenic (As): non-detect
• Titanium (Ti): 3,496 +/- 1,296 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 5,041 +/- 277 ppm
• Zirconium (Zr): 227 +/- 12 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 216 +/- 19 ppm
• Balance: 990,700 ppm

*The levels of Lead and Cadmium found in this handmade ceramic cup are very low and safe by all standards. The substrate is also covered in a glaze that is free of Lead and Cadmium, so there would be no exposure to the user via ingestion pathways when using a cup like this to drink beverages.

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