Just Ingredients Sends Lead Safe Mama, LLC a Cease and Desist Letter (February 2025) — Read the Full Letter Here (please comment your reactions below!)
This first image is the graphic we shared on social media to let Lead Safe Mama community members know about the Cease & Desist letter from Just Ingredients (which is below — in full, continue reading after this graphic).
February 10, 2025 — Monday
- Today a member of my team picked up the mail for me (as many of you know, I am half-way around the world for the next several months doing volunteer advocacy work in communities outside of the United States!) and the following *gem* had arrived.
- It’s a cease and desist letter from the legal team for Just Ingredients!
- Before reading this letter (shown below), please read the above image if you did not already see it on social media.
- Directly below is our chart showing the test results for all three of the Just Ingredients products we have published lab reports for so far (including the one we published today).
- We have taken screenshots of all four pages of the Cease and Desist letter, so please scroll down to makes sure you read each page.
- Thank you for reading!
- I always find these types of letters supremely amusing!
- It’s been about 14 months since we received our last one (from Pura Kiki, which you can read here).
- While I do not anticipate we will incur any legal costs in response to the nonsense noted in the letter below, if you are inclined to make a contribution to our legal fund — that is always welcome — here’s that link!
- We currently are carrying about $270,000 in debt from our Federal Civil Rights case (suing the State of Oregon in Federal Court for violating our civil rights for their attempts to shut down this advocacy work), so contributions are always welcome. Of this $270,000, $13,000 is a personal loan from a friend of Lead Safe Mama, LLC who we would love to pay back asap if at all possible — so that’s the current chunk we are working on repaying this month.
- I have not written a response to this yet (it’s just about midnight here and I have to get to sleep!) but I may consider writing one tomorrow, just for fun. As always, I will publish that (and share the link on social media) if/when I write it!
- I look forward to waking up to reading all of your comments in the morning. I expect that will be fun! — Tamara
- Maybe let’s play a game? How many points of nonsense can YOU spot in this letter? LOL!
- Which parts of the letter do you find most tragically ironic or amusing?
- How do you feel about this company and this as their response (instead of fixing the contamination problems with their products)?
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Companies like “Just Ingredients” fail to understand that Lead Safe Mama’s advocacy is based on millions of parents and child guardians demanding better, safer, higher quality, products for our children. The green-washing has been successful, because many alternatives to other known dangerous products are continually found to have toxicants that have potential to cause harm to children and adults. We the people are asking Just Ingredients, and other companies to CEASE and DESIST from supplying our families with scientifically proven toxic products while advertising these products as a healthy and safe alternative. Shame on Just Ingredients, and shame on every other company that doesn’t choose to take this information and improve their products rather than continue to willingly sell consumables that are found to have heavy metal toxicants.
Oh Jasmine! This is perfect! Thank you for this amazing, articulate, and thoughtful response! I am so moved.
As I often say … #LeadSafeMama is not a person, it’s a movement – and your statement shares that so clearly! We had 2.3 MILLION unique individual readers from around the world on our website last year (2024 Calendar year!) Companies cannot continue to F with this community, we are growing and we are powerful. We know better and we demand better for our families, and especially for our children. Thank you, Jasmine!
T
thanks for posting this comment!
Jasmine!! This one hundred percent. Well said and the whole truth.
I could not have said it any better! Bravo!
Bingo!
I concur. Well said.
“False statements such as “It is important to reiterate here that there is no safe level of Lead exposure” flies in the face of established law…”
Just because there isn’t a law against lead exposure doesn’t mean the statement is false. Every federal agency with whom this is part of what they do agrees there is no safe level of lead exposure for humans.
I am embarrassed to have to explain this with someone who has enough education to be an attorney.
Very interesting that they’re not denying their product is laden with heavy metals…
Right? THAT isn’t the offensive part.
It’s that she TOLD people about it and also told them there is no safe level of lead exposure. THAT is her alleged crime.
Reminds me of cheating men who get caught and say the problem is that their woman went through their phone and found their texts with other girls. Not the cheating. That wasn’t the problem. The girl learning about it was the problem. ♀️♀️♀️
“Dear Gentlemen”?! How quaint! How 18th century! How stupid. (I’m wondering about this guy’s legal training.)
Regarding the allegedly misleading statements about “proposed action levels”, these seem to be clearly and accurately described in the table you published. The failure of our government to properly protect us from toxicants does not mean we all have to just lay down and die.
This company would be foolish to take legal action, as it would draw more attention to their poisonous products.
Seriously. Any lawyer that sends a letter to anyone, let alone an organization called Lead Safe MAMA, should be thoroughly ignored. That is just unacceptable and shows their incompetence before you even start reading the letter…
Tells me they are guilty!! Why don’t they just clean up their products!! You hit a cord with them, obviously! Good work, Tamara!
Wow, instead of remedying the issue, they are trying to hush you. As a parent and a scientist, I’m extremely worried about their products and even more worried about their behavior. I’ll share this news with my friends on social media to notify everyone about the heavy metal contaminations in Just Ingredients products.
Garth needs an editor. Firstly, punctuation errors accosted my poor eyes, “Dear Gentlemen,” notwithstanding.
What does “Just Ingredients” do after receiving independent laboratory findings? Do they begin a dialogue, expressing concern for consumer health? No. Do they investigate the findings through a laboratory of their own choosing – you know, just in case something has changed since production began? No, at least not that we can see. No, they choose to hire Garth Ward, who, by the way, apparently knows this area of law quite well. Among his other specialties, his company website bio reads,
“Mr. Ward … defends entities that have received a Proposition 65 Notice of Violation or that are subject to a litigated enforcement action.”
I echo Jasmine’s spot on rebuke: “Shame on Just Ingredients, and shame on every other company that doesn’t choose to take this information and improve their products rather than continue to willingly sell consumables that are found to have heavy metal toxicants.”
I wonder how much it cost to pay this attorney vs how much it would have cost to look through their own lab reports and reformulate their product to be safer
Dear Gentleman… really? Just another company using fancy attorneys to try to get out of being held responsible. Gross.
Absurd!
Judging from the penmanship “style” of the person signing this letter, I really question its legitimacy at all. Perhaps just an intimidation tactic at this point. Would any real attorney sign a letter that appears like a signature of someone who just learned how to write in cursive?
The American People need to CEASE purchasing crappy products and put these bad companies out of business. Stop buying crap.
Amen!!!!! It’s a complete disgrace. Profit and make people sick or fatal while doing so.
I don’t trust a company that focuses on protecting themselves instead of their customers! Shame on you Just Ingredients!
Dear Gentlemen…..
Best line ever, obviously they retain the finest, sexist counsel.
Thank you, Tamara and team, for continuing to fight the good fight on behalf of all of us seeking products that actually promote health rather than harm it. Nothing ‘just’ about heavy metal ‘ingredients’ discovered by independent testing, which are then defended by the manufacturerer who has no intention of changing anything despite being informed. Stand strong!
This!! Exactly.
Ooh just ingredients, thou protest too much.
It sounds like the decision makers at Just Ingredients and Mr. Garth Ward are more concerned with keeping their handsome salaries instead of ensuring consumers are receiving a quality product . How embarrassing.
That is absolutely absurd. Your testing is helping inform parents. I appreciate it.
As a mother and consumer of hundreds of vitamins and apparently healthy products sold to us by these industries designed to supposedly provide well-being and quality, we must not continue to be deceived and I appreciate every effort of #LeadSafeMama is not a person, it’s a movement. To provide us with clarity and information when choosing what we consume, I have taken heavy metal exams and my arsenic levels are sky high. Who is responsible for my inquiries to the neurologist that I should take today for this reason? Dear community and dear Tamara, let’s require companies to CEASE and DESIST from supplying our families with scientifically proven toxic products.
Protein powders?
This is so terribly disappointing.
The founder of the company sells this story of having had complications with mercury fillings, etc but has NO COMPASSION for the people she is poisoning for a pretty penny. I purchased two of their leaded tooth powders hoping it would help me with my dental health – when I researched deeper into bentonite clay,I immediately stopped using the products. Thankfully I never got to finish even a single jar.
I contacted them for a refund but they were adamant about keeping to their thirty day return window. I told them I was currently dealing with heavy metal poisoning and couldn’t use their product any longer and that the funds returned would help me immensely. But they didn’t care one bit. You are doing gods work, helping spread this info to all the scared and hopeless families. And you’re not hiding it behind a paywall.
Thank you to the entirety of the lead safe mama team for truly managing to do good in this world. And eff just ingredients for hiring lawyers instead of ACTUALLY CARING ABOUT THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE.
I love how, among their listed “false and misleading” claims is the assertion that they will deflect blame… in this letter where they DEFLECT BLAME! Oh, the irony….
I’m appalled and saddened to read this. I’ve learned so much from Karalynne Call and Michelle Jorgenson and others who are part of the JI Facebook Group. The errors in this letter are numerous, petty and unfounded. Whatever amount of money JI paid to have this legal document put together (it couldn’t have been much, judging but the content, but still) could have been far better spent researching and sourcing cleaner ingredients for their products. Yes, it takes money to change; I’m sure it takes loads of money to source, test, manufacture, advertise, distribute, etc. But guess what? This is your business. You did it once before and because you advertised the claims that you have, your responsibility in upholding the standard of a clean product is massive. They’re upset about this because people are WATCHING. They know their products are going to take a hit. If they didn’t think we were watching, they wouldn’t have bothered. We’re following you, Tamara, and swarms of us are moving away and towards whatever results you’re publishing. The Mary Ruth kids/toddler vitamins have been consistently understocked and delayed since your publishing about how much cleaner those particular vitamins are compared to others AND, I believe, because their response to your findings about the contamination in their other products was so integritable. Let this be a sign to Just Ingredients and others: we’re watching, and we’re the ones who decide who gets our dollar. You can absolutely do better. Please, please do. Our kids and your customers are worth it.
I am more than disappointed in just ingredients LLC. As a company that stands for making a positive impact in people’s lives, you are doing the opposite. You are profiting off of consumers that are unaware what is being ingested into their bodies. I am so thankful for Lead Safe Mama, without this important community and open communication I personally could of been a victim of just ingredients products. We the people matter, our health matters. Company’s need to be held accountable. Awareness is invaluable!
There’s nothing “false and misleading” about the test results. Their response is abhorrent- Instead of a concern to make things right, they choose to attempt to silence the truth without any regard for people’s health.
Are you in contact with Food Babe? She was successful in getting the Kellogg granddaughter against her family company- Maybe join forces?
Every time I see one of your emails, I think to myself, “RFK Jr needs to see this.” Word needs to get to him somehow- He’s not only about to become head of the NIH, but he’s also an attorney.
I would also point out that you have no other interest than helping people make informed and healthy decisions, and you celebrate when you can put a company on the clean list- You have no bias, nor ill will to anyone- You just publish test results.
Oh wow I’m so sad!! But also relieved. I was about to order a bunch because I keep seeing the crunchy mom’s recommending their electrolytes and protein orders. Glad I dodged that bullet but yikes
All the statements by LSM are backed by scientific evidence and the consumers’ desire to know what’s in the products they buy, especially products that are so aggressively advertised on social media. We have a right to know what we are putting in our bodies.
I am a Pediatric Nurse with over 15 years of experience and a mother. This entire letter sent to Lead Safe Mama, LLC. is laden with inaccurate statements and obvious ignorance to business types and why they are established. As someone with a small business, even I understand that someone who owns their own business but does not have a bunch of employees may choose to be a Sole Proprietorship or LLC. A 501(c)(3) AKA a Nonprofit ORGANIZATION (not Corporation as you have erroneously stated) is an IRS tax designation that requires that all earnings be used for charitable purposes only. If you bothered to look into Lead Safe Mama, LLC. you would know that Tamara uses money out of her own pocket as well as donations and loans from her supporters. She absolutely has every right to reimburse herself and those people who have given loans so that this testing can be conducted at independent labs since we, the general public, cannot trust corporations like Just Ingredients to have integrity and accountability. Nothing that Lead Safe Mama, LLC. has published is defamatory or inaccurate. It is quite telling when a company will retain legal council to try to bully someone who is doing the right thing FOR CHILDREN instead of taking a look at what she found and using it to better their product. Trying to sweep things under the rug will only destroy any trust the public has put into this company.
What a despicable response from Just Ingredients. They should be ashamed of themselves. Imagine paying a lawyer $1000 to send a cease & desist when they could have just responded with, “thank you for opening our eyes, we will strive to be non-detect,” like MaryRuth did. I don’t care what happens, I will never purchase another product from this company in the future.
Now, they need to learn how to implement warning labels, similar to those in California, informing customers that their products contain heavy metals. If they fail to do so, the products will need to be recalled.
Why don’t they do their own testing, on a regular basis, and publish the results on their website or better yet labels.
“Just Ingredients should be sued for crimes against the public health.”
Mr Garth Ward is a smarty pants who should know better than to mess with Tamara: https://lewisbrisbois.com/attorneys/ward-garth-n#biography
Absurd
Point!
To Whom It May Concern/Just Ingredients: We, The People, will continue to educate ourselves and be proactive about the products we consume and put onto our bodies. People like Tamara Rubin are willing to provide that education by means of third party testing. I have ordered from Just Ingredients multiple times in the past. It was the start of an awareness journey seeking healthier products. I put faith and trust into this company. I think this is an opportunity for you to re-examine and recalibrate. Get your ingredients right. Change who you source them from. Start providing your own third party testing. Hold yourselves accountable. We cannot unsee what we have, and we won’t. Same as other brands out there, if you are servicing the general public, you have a duty. Coming after people who are providing us with results you are not, is not doing right by us. We have a right to know. If you aren’t providing transparency, someone else will, plain and simple. You have the right to defend yourself. But, do it the right way. Find better ingredients. Hold your vendors accountable. In my opinion, sending a Cease and Desist, says a lot more about what you stand for. Thank you for what you do, Tamara. Keep fighting the fight with us!
Thank you!
It should be expected that these types of products will have heavy metal contamination? Why would I ever expect anything that myself or my child would consume, or use on our bodies, be contaminated with poisonous heavy metals that can cause laundry list of issues including brain damage and death??? Why would you buy a protein supplement but not consume it regularly? How sporadic or limited should my protein shake consumption be? Why is this restriction not listed on the packaging? This whole letter not only admits to knowingly producing contaminated products but deflects blame of heavy metal exposure on unknowing customers for consuming it. How disgusting can a company get.
Thank you for commenting Tiffany!
T
They have no leg to stand on. And lawyers squawk like sterile roosters. Like they’re a threat. You ‘re not saying anything untruthful because you have the legal info right in your hands from the labs. Let them give you a good reason why you should not be calling them out.
Garth needs to stop bullying people and this company needs to be closed down! I loved it the companies attorney admitting that the population knows that drinking protein powders everyday can be hazardous to your health smh.
Thank you for your passion and integrity Tamara Rubin and staff of Leadsafemama!
I agree with Jasmine, “Shame on Just Ingredients…”
Absurd
And if Donny has his way and does away with Consumer Protection, things like this will be even more common.
KEEP FIGHTING !!
Thank you
It is too bad that the company does not humble itself by admitting and accepting the fact that its products are not safe to be used by anyone. If the company sent you a letter of appreciation for your advocacy work instead, it might have a brighter future. I think by sending you an arrogant letter, the company has dug such a deep, deep hole from which it may not be able to come out.