Better than dried apples and strawberries for the most part. Also it helps that you don't eat the toothpaste and it's used in much smaller quantities.
But in any case, reducing lead consumption in small children is always a good thing.
So how big a problem is this if you don't eat the toothpaste?
Does anyone know if NOVAMIN based toothpastes (e.g. Sensodyne) have been tested?
I'd have to assume the source of contamination is more in production equipment that was poorly maintained rather than the inputs for toothpaste?
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's" own marketing it's admitted the "ICP-MS" may cause interferences, though they aren't specifically quantified. [2] Other laboratories primarily market the technique specifically for testing raw for contamination[3] and discusses "dynamic range", rather than what I speculate is "a complex matrix" though I myself am not technical enough to recognize the meaning there.
According to an instrument vendor, Agilent, there are other considerable number of other constraints and variables where the laboratory process itself could introduce issues[4] and alarmingly, I'm unable to locate any details regarding specificity or FPRs, and there's some evidence of targeted advocate edits on Wikipedia regarding the viability of this application of this technique. Furthermore these advocate edits specify a different methodology for health-related detection, rather testing wastes for result of contamination than testing products themselves. Even furthermore Agilent, one vendor that has strategically been selected for my review of technical details about the technique specifies "ICP-MS is an elemental analysis technique, meaning it is used to measure elements, rather than the molecules" but it's difficult to determine whether the technique can avoid creating FPs with molecules. The process itself seems like it is not fool-proof, it would take some expertise in plasma chemistry to understand and predict completely which I cannot provide, or probably some pretty intricate calibration details which are not available for this study.
It's conceivable that testing products represents a misuse of the technique, it at least differs in scope from the use-case described throughout the Wikipedia article. There's a section on Wikipedia regarding use of the technique for Pharmaceuticals but it is vague, speculative, and drifts substantially from the actual topic at hand into usage for forensics.
[0] https://tamararubin.com/2023/07/lead-safe-mama-llc-rates-for...
[1] https://tamararubin.com/2025/04/orajel-kids-anti-cavity-toot...
[2] https://www.puritylabsinc.com/heavy-metals-testing
[3] https://www.eag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/High-Purity-R...
[4] https://www.agilent.com/en/product/atomic-spectroscopy/induc...
Calcium in diet competes with lead for absorption.
Any findings for Apagard?
That's why I brush with a 60/40 mix of hummus and sand.
That title should probably read "US toothpaste", as only US brands were tested.
Should come as a surprise to nobody really
That primal life toothpaste clearly being primal
I'm sending this to everyone who mocked me for cutting toothpaste out (but still brushing like normal).
I'm very, very worried about lead, because I eat a fair amount of 90% cacao Lindt chocolate. It's what keeps me off sugar. 1/2 a large bar has 4g of sugar.
On the topic of heavy metal poisoning I triple-dog-dare researchers to combine their studies of this and idiopathic hypertension. Heavy metals are cumulative so levels pertain to time which is bad because it its harder to connect cause and effect with greater time-spans. It took me far too long to find the connection and to start chelation therapy.
The article quoted a controversy between the testers saying there is no safe level and the manufacturers saying trace levels are impossible to avoid. But the article never mentioned a ppb or anything that would resolve the matter.