Vinyl Fabric

Sample of black vinyl fabric from a couch purchased / manufactured c. 2000: 242 ppm Lead & 5,131 ppm Antimony [linked to SIDS.]

July 2, 2022July 7, 2022

July 2, 2022 – Saturday This sample of fabric from a sofa (c. 2000) was sent to me by a reader for testing. She had heard that both vinyl and leather coverings of sofas could have Lead and she wanted to make sure this sofa was safe for her family. In testing the sofa vinyl,…

Dritz purple vinyl “Fun Tape Measure”: package says it has Lead, but it tests Lead-Free!

March 18, 2020July 10, 2023

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Introduction: Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants…

Original vinyl bench for 1975 Hammond organ: 4,138 ppm Lead, 370 Arsenic, 21 Cadmium + 835 Antimony!

August 31, 2019August 31, 2019

When tested with an XRF instrument the vinyl covered bench for this 1975 Hammond organ had the following readings: Brown vinyl seat of organ bench: Lead (Pb): 4,138 +/- 113 ppm Cadmium (Cd): 21 +/- 8 ppm Arsenic (As): 370 +/- 102 ppm Barium (Ba): 15,600 +/- 300 ppm Chromium (Cr): 1,117 +/- 212 Antimony…

#Leaded: Vintage MatchBox Car Vinyl Case

December 29, 2017January 27, 2018

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Vintage vinyl MatchBox car case. Made in Canada. Tested positive for as much as 310 ppm lead. In 2017 the amount of lead that is considered toxic in a modern/newly manufactured item intended for children is 90 ppm lead (or higher) in the coating or 100 ppm (or higher in) the substrate. – Would you…

1996 Piano

April 30, 2017January 27, 2018

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My piano! The finish was negative for lead. The vinyl of the seat was positive at 292 ppm lead. Vintage pianos are often very high lead. I have not tested many newer ones, but if this is any indication newer ones may have lead free finishes! For those new to my site: 90 ppm (and…

#GuerrillaXRFTesting @ Target! Vinyl T-Shirt Designs

March 20, 2017December 10, 2017

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Please check out this little video below that Carissa (from Creative Green Living) and I made, testing children’s t-shirts hot of the display shelf at Target! If you appreciate what I do & would like to support my advocacy work (including the XRF testing I do of consumer goods) please consider clicking through to Amazon from one of my…