Patreon Update: Thank you for voting! + Testing Llama Naturals Children’s Vitamins…
November 6, 2026
Friday
Hi all!
I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for voting.
I was not able to vote this year. They told me my signature did not match and then by the time we got that sorted out (and I got the alert that my ballot would be mailed), it was after the deadline by which the State of Oregon noted would be a guarantee that ballots would be counted. And then – to put the nail in the coffin on my ability to vote – I never actually did receive my ballot in the mail. For those who do not know – Oregon is 100% vote by mail (we have no in-person voting stations).
My 18 year old Charlie (who registered to vote when signing up for their driver’s permit) also did not receive a ballot in the mail. So – needless to say – this has been a bit frustrating process for us, which is why we are extra thankful that so many people did turn out to vote even though we were not able to. So – again – thank you!
In Lead Safe Mama-specific news…
Countless community members (we have truly lost count!) have asked us to test the Llama Naturals children’s vitamins, so we are working on raising the funds to cover the testing and reporting for that product.
In our research in preparation for the testing and reporting of Llama Naturals children’s vitamins, we came across TWO lab reports that readers sent to us (in 2024 and 2025) with test results that were shared with them by the manufacturer of this children’s vitamin product. You can read more about that at the link directly below.
Spoilers: the manufacturer tested their product in August of 2024 and shared a report with prospective customers confirming that these children’s vitamins tested positive for a concerning level of MERCURY!:
https://tamararubin.com/2026/11/llama-naturals/
Thank you for your recent outpouring of support!
I also want to take a moment to thank so many of you for the outpouring of financial support over the past couple of days, we haven’t yet added it all up (been still very busy processing paperwork for the next steps in the various legal actions, a process I think I finally completed last night for the current stage — plus we had a hearing in one of the legal cases yesterday afternoon as well!), however I think combined contributions in support of our work over the past couple of days totaled about $2,600.00.
Thank you so much!
With this support we were able to cover quite a few small bills critical to keeping Lead Safe Mama, LLC going AND we also covered a payment towards Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s legal fees.
I also again especially want to thank the person who helped us with the spam protection / hacker protection software purchase (for the website)! Having that protection in place has made a huge and immediate difference and we are all so thankful that we don’t have to deal with that concern again for another 24 months!
Some additional important Lead Safe Mama costs we are still working to cover this month:
1.) Our monthly cost of website hosting, maintenance and security: $359.80
2.) Our monthly ManyChat fee – this is the service that automatically responds to questions that followers ask on Instagram (responding with DMs that include links to our lab reports on many of our posts): $95.00
3.) Lab Fees (covering any amount of our lab fees would be excellent), while our total current outstanding lab bill is about $4,000 now, our weekly costs (at the rate of testing and reporting we have been doing over the past month) range from about $270.00 to $540.00 each week. If we are even able to pay off one or two of those smaller $270.00 invoices that would be amazing as it would represent a show of good faith to the lab, so thank you for considering helping with that!
4.) Today we also have a small operating shortfall (covering other small expenses that are pending) of $89.45 and would love to resolve that before the weekend.
If you are able to help with any of these specific costs, ways to send support are below my signature.
Reminder To Our Current Upper Tier Patreon Members:
I wanted to close this update by reminding our $25.00 and $50.00 monthly members here on Patreon that you should definitely be in touch with your choices for which products you would like tested (once you reach your $150.00 in gifted support across 3 months or 6 months!) Please text me with the options for products you are considering testing and I will help you choose which might be the best product to test (in terms of the likely test results of the products you suggest, taking into account your reasoning behind choosing which product to test and similar products that we have tested and reported on to date). My cell for texting is: 415-609-3182.
If you are a Patreon member at this level, please don’t worry about the cost of testing (please don’t hold off on choosing the products you would like tested). The lab is supportive of our work and wants to help us be in a position to continue publishing lab reports, so they are being very generous in giving us time to pay (given all that is going on) and we really want to have integrity with you (getting the products you nominate tested), plus we are always fascinated by the products you choose to test (and sometimes – together – we come up with some real winners through this process – products that would otherwise not be on our radar for testing- like the prenatal vitamins that we tested and reported on recently: https://tamararubin.com/2026/10/needed-prenatal-multi-gummies/ )
This month our $25, $50, and $495 members have asked us (so far) to send peppercorns and two cosmetics products (sunscreens) to the lab. While the sunscreens will be interesting for sure (both are products manufactured in Australia and Australia is rumored to have the best sunscreen products!), I am super excited to test the peppercorns as we have not yet tested any!
We always love collaborating with these members in this way – using their direct input to help guide our testing and reporting, and we are so thankful for their generous level of support which helps us have reliable income to cover a good portion of Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s ongoing operating costs each month.
Note: The cost of these upper Patreon membership tiers are going to go up a bit starting December 1, 2026 (to help us better cover our costs for testing and reporting on the products nominated for testing by those members) – however anyone who is already a member of any of those tiers before December 1, 2026 will be grandfathered in at those original rates – so this would be a great time to join us at any of those upper tier membership levels (even just for 3 or 6 months if you want to help us get one particular product tested), especially if you were already considering doing so. Here’s the link to check those out (thank you again!): https://www.patreon.com/leadsafemama/membership
Our goal is to publish several new lab reports this weekend, so please do stand by and stay tuned!
Yours, in science…
Tamara Rubin
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC
& The Lead Safe Mama Team
Ways you can contribute in support of the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC
Zelle: Testing@LeadSafeMama.com
PayPal: Testing@LeadSafeMama.com
Venmo: @LeadSafeMama
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/2177ac52a
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/leadsafemama/membership
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Thank you again!
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*Lead Safe Mama, LLC is not a 501(c)3 nonprofit, so while your contributions are critical in supporting the community-focused / community-directed work we do, gifts made in support of our work are not classified as tax-deductible contributions to charity (for tax purposes).
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