Newsletter: September 16, 2025 – Random Bits & Thoughts: Davids Toothpaste & An Update on Our App
September 16, 2025
Tuesday Evening
Hi all!
There are a few things I wanted to share with you – including things that I have shared on social media (things you may not have seen yet, as “the algorithm” really restricts engagement there unless we pay to promote posts).
#1). Davids Toothpaste (No apostrophe? Not sure why that is!)
The owner of Davids Toothpaste wrote me a rather ridiculous email, which I responded to in a very reasonable and measured way. The email and my response can be found on this link (I will also post it on the website soon, for those who are not on Instagram). Please make sure to scroll through all 17 images to read the full response. Please also feel free to post your thoughts in the comments. Your comments keep us going when we get responses like this.
Ironically – or maybe not so ironic (?) – even before we received an email from Eric (the owner of Davids), I had decided to send another sample of Davids to the lab for testing (we should have those results in the next day or two).
The reason for this retest was that “technically” their lab report showed “non-detect” for Mercury and Cadmium, but that is only because the limits of the lab report were too high (one of the reasons we switched labs several months ago, you can see that lab report here).
Now that we have a more reliable lab (consistently testing down to lower thresholds of detection), I wanted this retest done to help determine if – in fact – their “EWG VERIFIED” (!!!) products actually do test positive for Mercury and Cadmium (or not). I am excited to see those results and to share them with you as soon as we get them back from the lab.
This product re-test and reporting was not funded (we did not launch a campaign to raise funds to cover the costs), but we truly could use your contributions right now. While we have gotten quite caught up on the shortfall from the summer, we are currently $3,780.oo short to cover payments to our team this month, so if you would like to make a contribution to our general fund in support of this Davids Toothpaste testing (and all of the other not-yet-funded testing that we have done recently) you can do that here on our General GoFundMe Campaign.
Simply bumping up your Patreon membership to the next tier would make a big difference too! We are currently at a combined monthly total for Patreon contributions of $1,030.oo a month, contributed by 391 individuals – for an average monthly gift of $2.63 from each paid Patreon member. Our EOY Goal for 2025 is $3,000.oo a month. Link to help in that way if you are so inclined: http://www.patreon.com/LeadSafeMama
We are not a nonprofit, so contributions are not tax-deductible – just greatly appreciated.
#2). Avi Update
My son Avi is still in search of an apartment at college.
Avi is the main reason I do what I do. He has a diagnosed permanent brain injury from being acutely lead poisoned at 7 months old. He struggles with issues related to his brain injury every day, and he needs my support for a lot of the basics (which is why I am helping him again – for a month or two, as long as he needs me – with his transition to college again this year).
That said – as those of you who have seen our documentary film may know – he is brilliant. He has a 130 IQ (one point shy of Mensa, technically – although he is officially a member of Mensa now) even though he was diagnosed with a visual memory in the 4th percentile. With appropriate disability accommodations (text-to-speech and speech-to-text technology, and additional time for exams and projects + a lot of love and patience and understanding from his professors!)Avi simply thrives.
He is currently on the Dean’s List (last two semesters) here at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (with a 4.0 GPA / Straight A’s) and is working towards a degree in Astrophysics. If you have not yet seen the film and would like to better understand Avi, his journey – and why I do what I do, here’s a link to watch it (interruption free) on Vimeo, here also is a link to watch it on YouTube.
The housing crisis here in Honolulu is ridiculous (two months in and we’re still trying to find him an apartment for the year – an apartment that works well for him given his disabilities, and is somewhat affordable), but at least most of the people we have met along this journey have been absolutely lovely. Avi and I posted this silly little update video yesterday.
#3). Naturepedic
Just a reminder that Naturepedic is helping to sponsor this work, bridging the gap of much of the not-yet-funded campaigns for testing and reporting from the summer. We are working on the accounting of all of that (which we will publish as soon as we have an update). In thanks for their sponsorship we have posted a banner with a link to their website at the top of every page of our website. Please do check out their site and their offerings.
We will let you know when they have any big sales too (and will swap out the banner for duration of those sales too). Their new (not-during-a-sale) banner is posted at the top here on this update (we wanted you to see what that looks like to keep an eye out for it). When you click on their banner (or other links to their site from our site), it is a nice way to show your appreciation of their support of our work. If they get enough “linky love” (clicks from all of you!) over the coming months, they may even renew this support for next year… which would be absolutely FABULOUS!
I am not a fan of conspicuous consumption – please don’t buy a new mattress or sheets if you don’t need them, but if you do need them – thank you for considering Naturepedic (for all the reasons I shared earlier – on this link!) I am mostly excited for their new organic stuffed animals, which they are releasing in limited release batches of special characters. My new baby nephew is turning one next month and I intend to shower him with organic Naturepedic stuffies!
#4). The Lead Safe Mama App!
We got our first bid back from the app developers and are looking for a partner to help fund the development of the app that will house and share (and continue to fund) all of our Community-Funded, Community-Nominated, Third-Party, Laboratory Test Results for products.
While we have a couple of candidates in mind (to partner with us on this project), if you know of anyone who might be interested in helping us develop that app (either with a short-term loan to the business or an investment / partnership relationship of sorts, see below), please do let us know. Email me personally at TamaraRubin@mac.com.
One idea the team is discussing is that for a sponsorship of $200,000.oo (which would cover most of our development and prototyping costs for the app, given the current bid + our team’s time for development), we are considering offering the sponsoring company a header banner at the top of every page of the app (similar to Naturepedic’s banner at the top of the website this Fall / Winter) for two years (the first year / development phase, and the full second year – which we expect will be the first fully operational year).
The app will otherwise be ad-free so this could be a great opportunity for visibility / exposure for a company that might like to reach a very targeted audience (of parents – mostly mothers & some grandparents too – looking to make safer choices for their families!)
Of course we would carefully vet any prospective partners thoroughly – and would not consider any companies for this opportunity that make any Lead-contaminated products.
#5). Amazon Affiliate Earnings
We are falling behind in our Amazon Affiliate Earnings this month and could use your help.
Our Amazon partnership unfortunately (#becauseAmazon) provides a critical base of funding to cover the basic operating costs of Lead Safe Mama, LLC. This is a simple reminder that if you are going to be doing ANY Amazon shopping this Fall or in the coming Holiday Season, please start that shopping by first clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC affiliate link. You don’t need to purchase what we link to for us to possibly receive a percentage of what you spend (at no extra cost to you), you simply need to click one of our links at the beginning of your shopping session and then go about your shopping as you normally would. Thank you for supporting our work in this way. Here’s an aflink to a Lead-free thing I use in my home to get you started: https://amzn.to/3Vl5Jmc
To support you in supporting our work in this way, we are spending some time updating the Lead-Free and On-Sale page on the website today and tomorrow (check in there now if you are curious, and then maybe check back again in a few hours – we should have all of the links in each category updated by tomorrow). Here’s that link. We update this page as often as we can – in between publishing lab reports! It’s a good page to bookmark, but there are also Amazon affiliate links on every single page of the website (for you to use to start your shopping), or you could use the links on our current lab-tested safer choices list – link here.
The End
Those are all of the bits and pieces I wanted to share right now (before it gets too late!) The problem is the time difference! It’s only just after 6:00 p.m. here, but that means it’s already after Midnight. in New York – so some of you may see this in the morning.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for being part of the international conversation for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
Pending lab reports are in the graphic below (shared last night on social media) – in case you are curious about what’s in the queue! We expect to be publishing at least four more of these before the end of the day today Hawaii time.
Aloha!
Tamara Rubin
& The Lead Safe Mama Team
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC Amazon Affiliate Link, Lead Safe Mama, LLC may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.
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