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 2009, Tamara has been conducting XRF testing (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).
- Recent notable press… There has been too much to mention already in 2024! Please check out our press page to see some of the amazing coverage of our work so far this year!
Full XRF test results for the item pictured are below.
Published: February 23, 2024 — Friday
Note: The amount of Cadmium found in the silicone nipple of this bottle is not an uncommon amount of Cadmium to find in modern silicone food-use products. Please click through via this link to see the “Silicone with trace Cadmium” related articles on this website for more examples of silicone products that have tested positive for Cadmium.
As Cadmium is a known carcinogen (read more about that here), we (as consumers) should not tolerate any Cadmium in our food-use products (including and especially in baby bottle nipples), even at noted “safe levels.” For context: The State of Washington considers Cadmium concerning when found in children’s products at levels of 40 ppm and greater. The country of Denmark considers Cadmium concerning at levels of 75 ppm and up. There is no United States federal standard for allowable total Cadmium content (as detectable with an XRF Instrument) in items intended for use by children (with the exception being the limit of allowable Cadmium in jewelry intended for use by children has been set at 300 ppm).
Is this going to poison my baby?
Given the actual levels found in most baby bottle nipples and most silicone food-use products as well, (usually in the 5 to 25 ppm range) this is more of a political consideration than a concern for the poisoning of children. However, we are not aware of any study that has been done (and therefore of evidence on either side of the argument) to demonstrate either that trace Cadmium in silicone baby feeding products may cause harm or may be safe with long-term repeated use of a product over the course of months or years. Our concern is specifically the amount of time that a child might spend sucking on a particular nipple, combined with the potential for eventual deterioration of these nipples with regular use, cleaning and sterilization (or boiling). Further study is warranted given the recent explosion in the popularity of silicone products for food-use purposes (combined with the fact that nearly all of these silicone products test positive for trace levels of Cadmium).
Natural rubber nipples are a good Cadmium-free alternative!
There are several baby bottle options listed on the Lead Safe Mama Baby Bottle Guide with natural rubber nipples. If you and your baby prefer this particular bottle/ this brand of bottle, you may be able to find a natural rubber nipple that works with this bottle. If you do find a natural rubber nipple that works with this bottle, please comment below so that others have access to this information. Thank you!
Feeding your baby is, of course, critical. If your baby will only take one type of nipple and that nipple happens to be silicone, I would not worry about this at this time (I would continue to use the nipple that your child will take). I would however, perhaps (in addition to exploring non-silicone nipple products for your baby’s bottles), write to the brand and ask if they do any independent testing of their nipples for Cadmium or other trace contaminants and weigh their response. I don’t know if it is possible to find a brand that has consistently Cadmium-free silicone nipples, although Lead Safe Mama, LLC will do more testing of these products to see what we can find.
What about the Cadmium found in the glass of this bottle?
We are not concerned about the trace-Cadmium levels found in the glass of this bottle as (at the level found) the Cadmium in the glass is likely bound in the glass and non-leaching.
Reading #1) Gulicola Glass baby bottle — plain glass (without any logo marking in the reading)
60-second test:
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 8 +/- 5 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 726 +/- 270 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 463 +/- 99 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 12,100 +/- 300 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 968 +/- 25 ppm
- Niobium (Nb): 312 +/- 17 ppm
- Indium (In): 18 +/- 7 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 17 +/- 8 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 808 +/- 38 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 135 +/- 54 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #2) Gulicola Glass baby bottle test on logo area (logo and measurement markings appear to be etched/ cut into the glass, not painted or printed)
60-second reading:
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 11 +/- 5 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): 856 +/- 276 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 494 +/- 100 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 11,400 +/- 300 ppm
- Zirconium (Zr): 974 +/- 25 ppm
- Niobium (Nb): 301 +/- 17 ppm
- Indium (In): 12 +/- 6 ppm
- Tin (Sn): 24 +/- 8 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 857 +/- 38 ppm
- Platinum (Pt): 108 +/- 52 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #3) Gulicola Glass baby bottle — blue plastic of cap and collar/ ring
75-second reading:
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Titanium (Ti): 3,734 +/- 332 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Iron (Fe): 81 +/- 26 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 18 +/- 11 ppm
- Copper (Cu): non-detect
- Barium (Ba): 295 +/- 112 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #4) Gulicola Glass baby bottle — clear silicone nipple
90-second reading #1:
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 7 +/- 3 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): 346 +/- 11 ppm
- Indium (In): 11 +/- 4 ppm
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Reading #6) Gulicola Glass baby bottle — clear silicone nipple
90-second reading #2:
- Lead (Pb): non-detect
- Cadmium (Cd): 10 +/- 4 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): non-detect
- Bromine (Br): non-detect
- Arsenic (As): non-detect
- Chromium (Cr): non-detect
- Antimony (Sb): non-detect
- Niobium (Nb): 355 +/- 15 ppm
- Indium (In): 20 +/- 5 ppm
- Tin (Sn): non-detect
- No other metals were detected in consumer goods mode.
Thank you so much for the work you do and for testing this bottle as I have been using it with my baby when I need to leave her with a bottle when being watched. So much appreciation for you and your hard work.
I was just watching a video about best water filter pitcher and they talked about “lead free FDA approved food grade glass”. I got alarmed and thought OMG what if there is lead in my babies Gulicola glass bottles!? So I googled and up popped this page. Very thankful for this! Thank you!!! Now I can sleep tonight knowing my baby is okay!
I am interested in purchasing these bottles, however, [redacted] reported lead in these bottles in 2024. What are your thoughts on the matter. Who do I trust? The writing appears to be etched and not painted so your findings make more sense.
Hi Linda,
There are others reporting on test results for products – others who do not have the nearly 2 decades of experience in this area that we have here at Lead Safe Mama, LLC.
I believe those other sources were testing in an environment with significant cross-contamination from other activities done in that space and they did not generally follow reasonable protocols for testing (for example to ensure no cross contamination in the space).
It is for this reason we redact the name of sites and individuals who have work with these likely deficits (who are not following rigorous scientific protocols in their work).
Tamara