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What About Trace Heavy Metals in New Toys?
This is a broad overview of ATSM toy safety standards as they relate to chemical heavy metals testing for coatings and substrates. The standards are copyrighted and periodically updated. The ASTM F963-07 standard was effective and mandatory 180 days after the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) signed August 2008. 16 CFR § 1250.2(a) identifies…
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Are Your Cups and Dishes Made with Lead?
This post is about lead in ceramic dishes and cups. It is also an overview of FDA leach test standards, which limit lead leaching from ceramic ware, and how awareness of lead poisoning has changed over time. Dishes can be very high in lead. Many households still use traditional glazed ceramic ware. We are prone…
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Ready. Set. Chill.
“Stress is not so much what you do, but how you react to what you do.” Dean Ornish, American Physician This post is less about providing information and more about encouraging a balanced perspective when it comes to toxic components in our stuff. If you prefer to stick to the science and the product reviews,…
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How to Choose Safer Beads and Jewelry
Given how many jewelry and bead supplies contain lead and cadmium, here are a few choices you can make to reduce your risk of buying products made with toxic heavy metals. Skip the random metal alloy beads, including those marketed as “nickel alloy,” “Tibetan silver,” “brass alloy,” or just plain “silver.” There is no indication…
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What XRF Testing Can’t Tell Us
Handheld XRF testing does not tell us everything about an item. We will always be honest with you. We want to ensure that our readers have accurate information and realistic expectations for these kinds of analytical instruments and the screening we do for the blog. XRF testing is not perfect. But it is a great…
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How to Read Our XRF Posts
To make our XRF results easy to read, we created this short guide to explain a few of the terms used in our posts. How do you choose which tests to share on the website? Each test we share on the website must meet our internal quality control standards. We run a system check on…
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Which Beads and Findings are Toxic?
I used to be an avid jewelry maker. As a child, I remember going to bead and craft shows and checking out all the bright colors, fancy baubles, metal charms, and crystals. The shows were like a candy store to me as a kid. I made jewelry for over ten years and gave pieces away…
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Lead in Your Stuff: A Guide
The history of manufacturing is incredibly toxic. From radium paint to asbestos, lead, flame retardants, and PFAs, our country has paid a price in our unrelenting drive to create useful stuff. Thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, new children’s products for ages 12 and under are required to be limited to 90-100 parts…