Mercury

Do you know where the “Mad Hatter” got his name? Here’s a clue – vintage felt hat: 3,844 ppm MERCURY! [100 is unsafe]

July 14, 2019July 14, 2019

I have long known the vintage and antique felt hats were (historically) made with unsafe levels of Mercury (as part of the felting process for the wool as I understand it), but I had never personally tested a vintage felt hat and found it to be positive for high levels of Mercury — until now….

#Leaded: Russian Khokhloma Wooden Decorated Spoon, 1985

July 24, 2018September 23, 2023

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For those new to this 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 sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used…

1953 Cricket Records “Jolly Tunes”: Cadmium (Cd): 192 ppm, Mercury (Hg): 22 ppm! Do you have vintage vinyl at home?

December 16, 2017February 24, 2019

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Cricket Records ’33 record from 1953, “Jolly Time.” When tested with an XRF instrument it had the following readings. Lead (Pb): Negative (“non-detect”) Arsenic (As): Negative (“non-detect”) Cadmium (Cd): 192 +/- 15 ppm Mercury (Hg): 22 +/- 14 ppm To see more vinyl records I have tested, click here. For more #SaferChoices for your…

From 2013: The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining

January 15, 2017January 15, 2017

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Please click on the image below to see the full pdf of the article. Click here to see gold items that I have tested with an XRF that were also positive for mercury. The original link to article from 2013 can be seen here. A graphic depicting sources of mercury pollution from the original article…

Gold wedding set (c. 2016): 5,527 ppm Mercury, 1,214 ppm Arsenic (+ Gold, Silver, Titanium & Copper).

January 14, 2017December 7, 2023

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Originally written January 14, 2017 Updated (extensively!) February 17, 2020 This is an ad-free article. To make a contribution to help us keep our most widely-read articles ad-free, click here. Thank you. 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…