Top all-time · #3707
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Tamara Rubin
Personal blog · tamararubin.comhealthscience
Tamara Rubin writes Lead Safe Mama, a personal blog at tamararubin.com about health and science. Since 2019, 20 different Hacker News readers have linked it 39 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
39mentions?
20HN people?
2019–2025first – last linked?
Too few sampled comments (23) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Tamara Rubin's blog reports XRF lead and cadmium tests on household items such as dishes, cookware, toys and toothpaste. HN readers link it as a reference for household lead hazards.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 23 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2021-09-28
- /2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys-mega-bloks-large-yellow-building-block-c-2007-5402-ppm-lead-90-is-unsafe-for-kids-88-ppm-mercury/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-10-06
What Hacker News says?
Quite an alarming claim! Looks like regarding to Cadmium, "vintage" means up to mid-to-late 1980s [0] > Apparently The [Lego] has been aware of this concern for at least three decades (hence the switch to Cadmium free plastic colorants sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s) [0] https://tamararubin.com/2019/05/vintage-1970s-legos-test-pos...
Comment linking /2019/05/vintage-1970s-legos-test-positive-for-a-high-level-of-a-known-carcinogen-how-can-i-tell-if-my-legos-are-safe/
on “Scan of the Month: Lego Minifigures”Submitted Testing Kirkland Roasted Seaweed Snack for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, & Arsenic as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI was recently horrified to learn that the baby glass bottle I had been using with my baby had lead paint on it. https://tamararubin.com/2021/12/sailor-themed-glass-nuk-baby... Apparently, it's considered to be acceptable by current standards. Despite the fact that babies will obviously touch the bottle (and the paint) and then put their hands in their mouth. I bought glass bottles because I wanted to avoid plastic…
Comment linking /2021/12/sailor-themed-glass-nuk-baby-bottle-2021-bpa-free-and-only-15400-ppm-lead-in-the-paint-jk-90-ppm-lead-up-is-unsafe-for-kids/
on “Lead exposure in last century shrunk IQ scores of half of Americans: study”Wow! This is a great website. And it looks fine. And she replies in the comments. Sad quote: > If you look above in this article there is a list of 49 things we have tested so far (49/245 published articles, and that is going to bump to 55 this week) that have all tested safe by the strictest standards – that’s about 20%. https://tamararubin.com/2025/01/daves-killer-bread-thin-slic...
Comment linking /2025/01/daves-killer-bread-thin-sliced-21-whole-grains-and-seeds/
on “Alice Hamilton waged a one-woman campaign to get the lead out of everything”Today there is a one woman campaign against lead in consumer products by Tamara Rubin. [1] Unfortunately she doesn't know how to make a professional looking website and doesn't have a degree as a doctor (which would be of no value in her endeavor- operating an XRF tester and posting the results). She is however trained and certified in performing XRF tests and has probably done more XRF testing of consumer products…
Comment linking /
on “Alice Hamilton waged a one-woman campaign to get the lead out of everything”I have a theory that a lot of kids in India have been slow poisoned due to lead in 'traditional pressure cooker safety valves', leading to more pronounced ADHD and hyperactivity symptoms. I am not able to find any studies supporting this. Anecdotal evidences had pointed in the same direction (like this one here https://tamararubin.com/2017/01/butterfly-pressure-cooker-in... )
Comment linking /2017/01/butterfly-pressure-cooker-india-valves-120500-ppm-lead-90-is-unsafe-this-was-a-likely-source-of-poisoning-for-a-child/
on “Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning”https://tamararubin.com/2018/10/tamara-can-you-come-to-my-ho... Lead-testing as a Service :) That site also has quite a lot of tips on equipment and such. (No affiliation, just saw it from some other hn comment somewhere)
Comment linking /2018/10/tamara-can-you-come-to-my-home-and-make-sure-my-stuff-is-safe-for-my-kids/
on “Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning”Watch out for dishes, especially older ones. The older Lenox dishes my family used for 40 years turned out to have heavily leaded glaze on the surface. By the time I was using them for my own kids, the glaze could turn a lead-check swab bright red, which means we were eating that lead. After I discovered this I replaced all of our dishes with plain white Corelle. Corelle currently uses lead-free glaze; the plain whi…
Comment linking /
on “Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say”A lady named Tamara Rubin has spent years testing household products and other commonly handled objects for lead. She uses an XRF tester, which is the gold standard for high accuracy lead testing. She has thousands of items listed, from dishes to door hardware to childrens toys, and a lot of these will put a family at high risk of lead poisoning. There's some woo-y stuff on her website, but her XRF data is a gold mi…
Comment linking /
on “Half of American kids have lead in their blood, doctors say”Also look out for lead and cadmium in Le Creuset pans. https://tamararubin.com/2022/04/le-creuset-overview/
Comment linking /2022/04/le-creuset-overview/
on “Cast iron leet”If you wish to do some of your own tests, vs using a service, swab test kits have a reputation for being very poor quality and unreliable. This led this gal to start a kind of one-woman crusade on the topic: https://tamararubin.com/2023/01/dont-panic-these-lead-test-k... She recommends the american brand Scitus for swab test kits.
Comment linking /2023/01/dont-panic-these-lead-test-kits-do-not-work-for-testing-consumer-goods-you-might-as-well-tear-up-your-money-and-throw-it-in-the-trash/
on “Lead is still bad for your brain”I am glad you are finding the time to avoid contaminated industrial processed food. In the apple sauce contaminations the apple sauce is always cinnamon flavored. When tested for various heavy metals, cinnamon usually has unsafe levels of heavy metal contamination, and lead is usually one of the metals: https://tamararubin.com/2024/12/six-cinnamon-products-chart/ There is widespread contamination in spices because t…
Comment linking /2024/12/six-cinnamon-products-chart/
on “Lead is still bad for your brain”This is a great article on the biology of lead exposure. Unfortunately on the exposure side research wasn’t done and it propagates the myth that lead exposure is only an issue for those with lead pipes or lead paint. It’s true that these are the main sources of severe lead exposure. However the article points out that there is no safe level of exposure to lead and these aren’t the main ways we are exposed to lead in…
Comment linking /category/recall/
on “Lead is still bad for your brain”Ok sure, but that's far from the primary concern here. I'm thinking of things like this: https://tamararubin.com/2021/09/yellow-vintage-fiesta-plate-... ..which is mad of approximately 50% lead, and certainly no accident of nature. And even if it were to occur naturally, that wouldn't make it any less hazardous.
Comment linking /2021/09/yellow-vintage-fiesta-plate-made-in-usa-563800-ppm-lead-90-ppm-up-is-unsafe-in-modern-items-made-for-kids/
on “EU considers banning use of up to 12,000 toxic chemicals”> I just couldn't believe that even glazed pots contain lead? In the US, even pottery intended for use with food may contain lead, to this day apparently: "..there are no U.S. regulations (to my knowledge/correct me if I am wrong!) that specifically regulate the overall content of lead in pottery—even for pottery pieces intended for use with food and beverages." https://tamararubin.com/topics/does-vintage-and-new-fu…
Comment linking /topics/does-vintage-and-new-functional-pottery-and-dishware-have-unsafe-levels-of-lead/
on “EU considers banning use of up to 12,000 toxic chemicals”Note it's not just lead, but also cadmium for bright colors. Trendy cookware manufacturer Le Creuset uses cadmium in many of their hues, for example. Many other enameled and ceramic cookware manufacturers do too. Some test results: https://tamararubin.com/2019/02/made-in-france-c-2013-yellow... .
Comment linking /2019/02/made-in-france-c-2013-yellow-le-creuset-enameled-sauce-pan-15800-ppm-cadmium-a-known-carcinogen/
on “Lead exposure from routine consumption of coffee and tea from ceramic mugs”Almost all do. Most don't leach, or leach amounts too small to pose a significant danger. For more info, check out this blog [0]. The design is a little much, but it's quite informative. The author is a mother whose kids got lead poisoning, so she bought a XRF spectral analyzer and now posts lead test results for tons of items. I've found it a useful resource. [0] https://tamararubin.com/2019/12/which-ceramic-coffee…
Comment linking /2019/12/which-ceramic-coffee-mugs-are-lead-free/
on “Lead exposure from routine consumption of coffee and tea from ceramic mugs”There's more. Here's a good resource on common household lead hazards: https://tamararubin.com/topics/ . She tags her posts blog-style so it's easy to browse. Here are the things that I found in my house: - Dishes and cookware, especially vintage and fancy glazed shit. It's a fucking crime how many popular brands use heavily leaded glazes in their products. The vintage Lenox stoneware I got from my parents tested at…
Comment linking /topics/
on “Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead”The brand we settled on was Pillivuyt (better quality). You can get Corelware for cheaper that seems to be tested safe, but if you're looking for stuff that's going to last, you want actual porcelain dishware. The other brand that we found was sold by Sur La Table, made in Turkey. We chose porcelain over some other materials (like glass) because it's more durable, and Pillivuyt has been making the stuff for a long t…
Comment linking /
on “Microplastics detected in human blood in new study”This is misleading. They didn't pluck the numbers from thin air. They provide links to evidence from third parties. Also they show that the levels in some toothpaste exceed FDA standards: "The numbers are juxtaposed (in blue) to the “Action Level” proposed by the medical and scientific community in 2021 as part of the Baby Food Safety Act. ... The legitimacy of these levels as “Action Levels”/ “Levels of Concern” (e…
Comment linking /2025/02/crest-regular-toothpaste/
on “Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds”Ok so diving in, The Guardian is reblogging a blog "lead safe mama". "lead safe mama" is an activist and filmmaker, who does not appear to have a scientific background, and who may primarily be motivated by taking on legal cases. [0] Furthermore, in the toothpaste (informal, blogger-led) study it appears that the testing was performed by "Purity Laboratories" using "ICP-MS" instrumentation. [1] According to "Purity'…
Comment linking /2025/04/orajel-kids-anti-cavity-toothpaste-with-fluoride-in-fruity-bubble-flavor/
on “Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds”The first link in the article contains PPM, and if you click through it lists % actionable levels for the individual brands / contaminants: https://tamararubin.com/2025/01/toothpaste-chart/ Maybe HN should just link to this? Incidentally, apparently, they test based on donations from their reader base. Most of their readers are interested in weird fluoride-free stuff. If you want them to test more mainstream brands,…
Comment linking /2025/02/lead-safe-mama-llc-fundraisers-for-toothpaste-testing/
on “Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds”Here are the full test results from the person/group who tested the toothpastes: https://tamararubin.com/2025/01/toothpaste-chart/ I think there will probably be a great deal of controversy about this until some scientists/food scientists take a look at the results and give us their view. Heavy metals are unfortunately found in soil and can result in contaminated food & other products. The issue is the amount in the…
Comment linking /2025/01/toothpaste-chart/
on “Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds”Sort of tangential: it appears that many KitchenAid mixing blades have substantial lead contamination [1]. I've seen similar results in testing at my local county health office. 1 - https://tamararubin.com/category/kitchenaid/
Comment linking /category/kitchenaid/
on “KitchenAid’s Key Ingredient: Investing in Workers”Even more widespread and arguably of greater risk is the widespread use of lead. I'd assumed that anything produced in the last twenty years or so would be lead-free and it turns out I'd assumed wrong. Garden hose fixtures often contain lead [1], and there are recalls of popular toys with red or yellow paint [2]. And this is just going through what's still in my browser history. [1] https://ideas.time.com/2012/08/02…
Comment linking /2018/09/reminder-june-2007-thomas-the-tank-engine-wooden-toy-recall/
on “Radioactivity in Antiques”> I wonder how much one buys from AliExpress is made of toxic chemicals? All that clone lego and other cheap goods. I really am curious. Probably a lot, since lead has even shown up in recent(ish) toys from US companies (Mattel) that should know better: https://tamararubin.com/2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys...
Comment linking /2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys-mega-bloks-large-yellow-building-block-c-2007-5402-ppm-lead-90-is-unsafe-for-kids-88-ppm-mercury/
on “Nearly half of toys from third-party online sellers found to be dangerous”> All US citizens participate in a free market, as long as foreign labor is cheaper then American businesses have no incentive to participate in the economy. You just said it right there, a great argument to make the tariffs match what is required to allow US Citizens to compete with global slave labor prices - OR block all products built with slave labor. Also have eating out of lead-lined everything in the meantim…
Comment linking /
on “The US is paying the price for complacency with China. Time is running out”I do find her website a little bewildering so I can see why you would react with such a mindset. But a minute googling answers most of your questions: https://tamararubin.com/2016/12/ask-tamara-what-do-you-use-t... It seems like there's a misunderstanding about the technique being used. An XRF gun is a portable device that works in the field and does not require to be operated in a lab. For most of the consumer good…
Comment linking /2016/12/ask-tamara-what-do-you-use-to-test-for-lead/
on “Applesauce lead poisoning cases in kids surge amid questions on FDA oversight”She calibrates before every test. She has probably done more XRF tests than anyone criticizing her, including those doing it by proxy in this thread. Here's a training certificate. It's an 8 hour full day course: https://tamararubin.com/2017/09/tamaras-xrf-training-certifi...
Comment linking /2017/09/tamaras-xrf-training-certificate-february-3-2009/
on “Applesauce lead poisoning cases in kids surge amid questions on FDA oversight”There can be lead in almost any man-made good or processed food. And even unprocessed food grown in contaminated soils. Lead is such a ubiquitous contamination that it is worth educating yourself about and getting baseline blood tests. This site has lots of useful information: https://tamararubin.com/ The author tests products with an XRF gun and her reports have initiated recalls. It's a commentary on our lack of e…
Comment linking /
on “Applesauce lead poisoning cases in kids surge amid questions on FDA oversight”
