“Tamara, why does Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s data seem to be so different than Consumer Lab’s?”

 

 

& a not-so-short post-script…

I would also like to add a P.S. specifically to the person who asked this question today:

• Lead Safe Mama, LLC is a small business with a focus on childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Consumer Goods Safety.
• We’re not asking you to believe anything.
• We’re sharing numbers with you, raw data and full original lab reports (or full XRF test results for consumer products like cookware).
• We’re giving you this information so you can use this as an opportunity to learn about the concerns and make informed decisions for your family.
• In most cases, we are not interpreting the data for you, we are leaving that up to you.
• Our focus is on children’s health. If a product is not safe for consumption by children and by pregnant women / women of childbearing age, it is not “safe by all standards”.
• While — at the request of our online community — we do share links to uncontaminated products when we identify them, our business model is not based on recommending alternative products. We specifically try to stay away from the culture of “safer swaps”.
  • We have promised our community that we will never make a recommendation of a “safer choice” when there are no uncontaminated alternatives
  • We will never recommend a product that is contaminated at levels that are beyond what might be considered “safe by all standards”.
    • Said another way: We only recommend products that are “safe by all standards” when it comes to heavy metals concerns.
• In each of our articles and comparative charts we are telling you that “X” (the lab test result, whatever it may be) is the level of contamination for this product.
  • We always share the full original lab report for each product we have sent to a lab for independent, third-party testing.
  • We ask you to learn about the issue (as it relates to each specific product), and our articles provide links to relevant scientific studies whenever possible.
  • We ask that you use this information to make a science-based informed decision.
  • We ask that you  also consider taking into account that there is no safe level of Lead exposure, — or Mercury exposure or Cadmium exposure — when you make decisions for your families.
  • We ask that you also consider the fact that the impact of heavy metals on a body over a lifetime is cumulative — when you make that decision. 90% of the Lead you have ever been exposed to is still in your body (this is discussed in our documentary film, link above).
  • We ask that you also evaluate the options you are considering as a whole — not in isolatoin (taking into account the other products you use and consume so you are making decisions from the most health protective position).
• If you want to avoid cancer, you may want to avoid products that have been confirmed to test positive for any amount of known carcinogens (like Lead, Arsenic and Cadmium).
• If you want to avoid memory decline and cognitive impairments, it may be a good idea to avoid products that test positive for any amount of known neurotoxins (like Lead and Mercury).
• If you want avoid heart disease, it is probably a very good idea to avoid products that test positive for any amount of Lead (given the recent scientific studies linking trace, persistent, low-level, chronic Lead exposure to heart disease).
• If you want to detox, eat garlic (this is a recommendation wholly based in independent science – article link here).
• It’s not complicated.
• The supplement industry is not your friend.
• Brands are not entities to be trusted or that one should have loyalty to.
• Get as much of your nutrients from raw whole foods as possible.

Lead Safe Mama, LLC is engaged in environmental advocacy — we are first and foremost advocates for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety – using science education and science communication as tools to achieve our goals. I don’t know what Consumer Labs consider themselves to be (first and foremost, in terms of their mission) — but it seems (based on feedback we have gotten from our community) that  they are in the business of recommending toxic products, and justifying the toxicant-profiles of those products as “reasonable risks”, contrary to the most recent science in the matter.

It is often the case that  older medical professionals (Consumer Lab’s Dr. Tod graduated from medical school in 1987 apparently – so that would make him about 61 years old), are not always up to date on the most current scientific data regarding environmental toxicity concerns, and specifically the impacts of heavy metal toxicants on human health — in fact it is quite rare if they ever are, which is one reason State Health Departments, Hospitals, and Universities hire me to teach continuing education classes on the subject for doctors, nurses, educators and others in related fields.

And finally…

Consumer Lab makes money from a subscription base and appears to keep most of their data behind a paywall.

• All of Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s information is freely available to the public, not behind a paywall of any kind.
• Consumer Lab promotes that they have been in business for 26 years and that they have done testing and “reviews” of over 1,400 products.
• Lead Safe Mama, LLC  has tested tens of thousands of products since we began product testing in 2009. We began our laboratory testing of products less than 2 years ago (in March of 2024) and have already tested more than 700 products in that time-frame — with about 600 lab reports published to date and about 100 lab reports pending.
  • Prior to March of 2024 (and starting in 2009) we primarily used XRF technology to test durable consumer goods (not consumables) — like dishes, pots & pans, etc.
• There are over 4,500 articles here on this website, most with test results for consumer goods — all freely available & not behind a paywall (& most without any advertisements).
• All of the testing and reporting we do through the Lead Safe Mama, LLC Community Collaborative Laboratory Testing Initiative is directed by (and funded by) the greater online Lead Safe Mama Community — this is a “for you”, “by you”, and “for the public good” initiative with a focus on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Consumer Goods Safety.
• We had nearly 2.3 million unique individual readers in our community (from around the world) in 2024 alone (and expect to close out 2025 with a similar number of readers).

We’re not asking you to believe anything.

We are simply trying to teach you about the science, to give you tools to make safer choices for your families,  and to let the numbers and the settled science speak for themselves.