Myth: “Plain white china is usually Lead-free.” For your consideration, Homer Laughlin Ceramic Plate: 75,032 ppm Lead.
White plate by Homer Laughlin: 75,032 ppm Lead. Pre-2015, exact year unknown. Made in U.S.A. There’s a common myth circulating around the internet (and among home hazard assessors and others in the business of Lead poisoning prevention too) that plain white simple ceramic dishes are generally Lead-free. This simply is not true and the Homer…
How Important Is Lead Poisoning to Becoming a Legendary Artist?
This article originally appeared in “The Atlantic” in November of 2013. “In 1713, Italian physician Bernardinus Ramazzini described in his De Morbis Artificum Diatriba a mysterious set of symptoms he was noticing among artists: ‘Of the many painters I have known, almost all I found unhealthy … If we search for the cause of the…
Amazon is selling lead paint, let’s complain!
In searching for leaded items on Amazon yesterday (things being intentionally sold and marketed as containing lead) I learned Amazon is selling lead paint (leaded artists paints, specifically!) Please click through on this links (just click the images below) to these two products and help me change Amazon’s policies by submitting a review (that the…
1992 Study: Potential lead exposures from lead crystal decanters.
Click the image below to read the full piece. “The consumption of alcoholic beverages stored in lead crystal decanters is judged to pose a hazard.”
New s%*t you can buy TODAY on Amazon that is intentionally made with lead….
Today in 2017 (almost 2018) things are being made and sold with high levels of toxic lead every single day! Think this is not true? Check out the following products and links! [Please click on each of the product images to read the full details about each of these products!] I thought this would be…
Glass Reusable Drinking Straws
#AskTamara: What reusable straws do you use? Someone recently asked me about straws. All of the reusable straws I have tested so far have been lead-free, both the plain glass and plain stainless steel ones. I really like the glass ones because you can see inside and know if they are clean or not (vs….
German/ Bohemia Thun China Bowl
Small china bowl: white in center: 23 ppm lead & trim on edge: 1,327 ppm lead. Vintage, Made in Germany – TK Thun, Bohemia. Read more about testing dishes here. To see the #LeadFree dishes I use in my home, click here. For more #SaferChoices for your family, click here. To make a contribution in…
Blue and White Sango Brand Bowl Purchased at Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond: 2,701 ppm Lead.
The owner of this blue and white Sango brand bowl told me it was either purchased at Target (or possibly Bed Bath and Beyond?). It is marked “Made in China”. When tested with an XRF instrument it was positive 2,701 ppm Lead. Later when I researched this company a bit I found some documentation from…
Marine Commissary WW2 Dish: 43,200 ppm Lead
WWII US Marine Commissary Vitrified China dish, by Sterling, East Liverpool, Ohio: 43,200 ppm LEAD. Read more about testing dishes here. To see the #LeadFree dishes I use in my home, click here. For more #SaferChoices for your family, click here. To make a contribution in support of my independent consumer goods testing and lead…
Fire King Tulip Pattern Bowl Set: 19,300 ppm Lead. 90 ppm (& up) is unsafe for items used by children.
Vintage “Fire King” tulip bowl set: 19,300 ppm lead. The amount of lead that is toxic in items intended for children is 90 parts per million and higher. Total lead content in vintage dishware is not regulated at all. Here’s are links to some new (inexpensive AND lead-free) mixing bowl choices on Amazon.* Single 4-quart clear…
Johnson Brothers Bowl
One more for Nicole! Newer Johnson Brothers (replica of the similar Finlandia pattern) this bowl was super low at only 138 ppm lead. This a level that most would consider to be #LeadSafe. Age unknown. Read more about testing dishes here. To see the #LeadFree dishes I use in my home, click here. For more…
Vintage Sheraton Pattern English Saucer by Johnson Brothers: 77,498 ppm Lead [90 ppm Lead is unsafe for kids.]
Sheraton Pattern, “Made in England” saucer, manufactured by Johnson Brothers. 77,498 ppm Lead (Pb) 12,637 ppm Arsenic (As) For context: the amount of lead that is considered toxic in a newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything that is positive for 90 ppm Lead (or higher) in the paint or coating (or…
Vintage Johnson Bros. Hearts & Flowers Mug: 50,600 ppm Lead. 90 ppm Lead (& up) is unsafe & illegal for new items made for use by kids.
When tested with an XRF instrument this “Made in England”, Johnson Brothers Mug was positive for 50,600 ppm Lead in the glaze. Originally written November 23, 2017 Updated December 1, 2019 How much Lead is too much Lead? For context, the hazard level for a modern/newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything…
Holiday 2017 Affiliate Link
Please friends, click through to Amazon via one of my links today before you shop and I will get up to 6% of whatever it is you spend at no extra cost to you! (and this can help cover my legal fees and my advocacy costs!) Here’s a link you can use (you don’t need…
Scientific Study: Potential Hazard of Lead in Decorated Glassware
Published: November 23, 2017 Here’s a direct link to the study on PubMed. Click the image below to read the full article shown below from IFL Science! “Dr Andrew Turner of the University of Plymouth, UK tested a range of glass products used for storing liquids, both new and second hand. These included tumblers, beer…
#Leaded: Vintage “Spring Blossom Green” Pattern (Crazy Daisy) Pyrex Casserole, c. 1972 to 1979
Vintage Pyrex “Spring Blossom Green” pattern casserole: 110,000 ppm lead in the white flowers. It just takes a microscopic amount of lead to poison a child. The amount of lead that is considered toxic for children in a new / modern item created and sold as intended to be used by a child is 90…
#LeadSafe: Polish Ceramic Dishes
Polish dishes. Small bowl: 99 ppm lead, 37 ppm Cadmium, 1175 ppm Chromium (non-detect for As & Hg) — Pasta dish: 192 ppm lead, 22 ppm arsenic (non-detect for Cr / Hg / Cd.) Tested with an XRF in 2016. These are within safe “range” for this sort of thing, and for decorative dishes they…
Chateau Buffet Bowl, Made In USA
Chateau Buffet – USA made – 140,000 ppm lead! The amount of lead in dishes is not specifically regulated (as a portion of content.) The thing that is regulated (in some areas) with newer items is the amount that leaches into food. If you have older dishes with high levels of lead, all bets are…
Target Home American Simplicity
Bowl from Target that I tested with a Niton XRF (same instrument used by the CPSC to test for toxicants): apprx 34,000 ppm lead on the inside & 21,000 ppm lead on the outside. For more information about my concern for lead in dishes… Check out this link: https://tamararubin.com/topics/pottery/ Here’s are links to some new…
Our Thanksgiving Tradition: Music, History, Storytelling & Humor! Alice’s Restaurant – the song!
Every Thanksgiving with my mother (Helene), growing up in Hingham, Mass we would listen to Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant! Since we were from Massachusetts (and since it was the 1970s!!!) it felt like home, like our very own anthem! (I miss you mom!) Happy Thanksgiving everyone! They have it on Amazon too! Link here.* For those…
A friend shared this with me (meme)…
I just wanted to share this on my blog. I don’t know the original source, but it seems totally appropriate! [If you know the original source I would be happy to add that as a credit] Happy Thanksgiving and may you have fun along your way even if things don’t go as planned! Tamara Rubin…
We keep a vegan home & I haven’t cooked a turkey in more than two decades, but here is what I would use IF I were going to cook a turkey!
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…
2017 (?) Blue Hydro Flask
Newer (2017?) Hydro Flask. Tested in June of 2017. Lead Free! Newer Hydro Flasks (2017 and newer, based on what I have tested) seem to be consistently lead-free! In 2015/2016 Hydro Flask had offered to replace the older leaded products with a lead-free product, so it might be worth giving them a call to ask for…
A Tale of Two Hydro Flasks: Leaded & Not!
Newer Green (Columbia) Hydro Flask: #LeadFree! Tested in August 2017 ~~~~~ Older Orange Hydro Flask (pre-2013), center sealing dot on bottom: 177,500 ppm Lead. Good job on getting the Lead out, Hydro Flask! 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…