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 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for five 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!
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February 19, 2024 — Monday
In February 2023 (one year ago) Lead Safe Mama, LLC reported (via the above post on social media) that the Thrive Market insulated stainless steel tumbler pictured tested positive for Lead.
Using XRF technology, the Lead reading we found on the example we tested and reported that day (shown in the image above) was 334,100 ppm Lead — this indicates that a 60/40 Lead solder (40% Lead) is likely used to create the vacuum insulation for these Thrive Market tumblers. To read more about what a Leaded “sealing dot” is (the component on this bottle that tested positive for Lead), click here.
For context: Per the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, any item that tests positive for Lead at 100 ppm or higher in the substrate (base material) of any component of that item is considered ILLEGAL if that item is marketed and sold as an item intended for use by children. At 334,100 ppm Lead, this base of this tumbler is considerably higher than 100 ppm Lead… HOWEVER, it is not “an item intended for use by children,” so it is not illegal in any way.
While this level of Lead (fully exposed/ not separated from the hand of the user holding the tumbler by any kind of barrier at all) is not illegal, that does not mean it is safe — please note the caption in our original article (see the image above)! These tumblers should not be used and should be either disposed of immediately or returned to Thrive Market for a refund, if possible.
Separate from the Lead concern, tumblers of this type are generally sold for use with coffee, which is also a bad idea. Most food-grade stainless steel has about 80,000 ppm Nickel, which is a known carcinogen. When these types of vessels are used with coffee (or other hot and/or acidic beverages) on a regular basis (daily, over a long period of time) there is an increased possibility of Nickel leaching from the vessel into your beverage. You can read more about that concern at this link and this link.
If you would like to purchase a water bottle or tumbler from a reputable brand — a brand that Lead Safe Mama, LLC has confirmed to currently, consistently manufacture Lead-free products (via repeated testing of multiple examples from that brand over multiple years, using scientific methodologies and not home test kits!*), please take a look at the offerings from these brands:
*Home test kits cannot be effectively used to test most consumer goods for Lead. This article (linked here) has more water bottle brands that Lead Safe Mama, LLC has tested and found to be positive for Lead (as well as those that have tested negative for Lead)!
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking a Lead Safe Mama, LLC Amazon link, we may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.
It’s unbelievable that it’s not illegal! One thing we should all try to get together and do, is get some new laws to make something like that illegal.