10 ms·
Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds
- bishopolis 2y ago1. single-source 2. non-scientific tester 3. conflict of interest concerns Some blogger's dreck has gone viral.
- LinuxBender 2y agoOn 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.
- volkk 2y agohow do you test for this stuff? is a lead test through a blood draw enough?
- hammock 2y agoNot always but it's a start
- monetus 2y agoThe quacks will try to give you chelation therapy before a blood test to be certain that metal will show up on the test. Chelation is bad for your body outside of the circumstances where you really need it, like if you were a miner or something.
- LinuxBender 2y agoIf by quacks you mean doctors with 30+ years of experience, well, I love those doctors especially those with a passion for biology and chemistry. They are starting to awaken and write books now that they can not be cancelled for no longer blindly following dogmatism that has caused the medical industry to stagnate for decades. By this point in their career they have paid off all their debts and are no longer required to bow to the master. My most recent purchase was "Disolving Illusions" by Susanne Humphries, MD. It's a great read. Mainstream doctors refer to her as a quack but in reality they see her as a threat or they would just ignore her.
- pogue 2y agoI don't want to get into an hours long debate about this and you sound quite sold on the treatment. But, there is legitimate chelation therapy for people with real heavy metal poisoning and there is a pseudoscience treatment sold as a type of cure all for imaginary problems and removing "toxins". Chelation Therapy: Unproven Claims and Unsound Theories https://quackwatch.org/related/chelation/ https://quackwatch.org/related/chelation/ Chelation Therapy - Fad Treatment with Real Risks https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/08/08/chelation-therapy-fad-treatment-real-risks-11667 https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/08/08/chelation-therapy-fad-t... https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Chelation_therapy https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Chelation_therapy
- LinuxBender 2y agoThe methods being described in the articles are not what I have been doing. Those are for acute high dose metal poisoning and are very dangerous even when they are truly required. Even the oral versions I use warn not to use them long term for the reasons stated in the articles. If people are getting IV high dose chelation as a method of therapy then yes I would agree that is dangerous and reckless behavior of whatever doctors are doing this. That would be akin to getting TPA shots for therapeutic reduction of arterial plaque. I used my methods on and off watching my BP over a period of time and watched for the valley floor.
- monetus 2y agoIt is a combo of the economics, and the need to do something, anything - they encourage quackery. ~10k fine when a doctor trained as a gp killed a kid with chellation, along with a temporarily suspended license. A GP isn't trained on administering chelation, iiuc. I encourage you to get a second and third opinion from people who administer chelation in a hospital setting
- LinuxBender 2y agoI appreciate you offering the advice but I know from experience I will just get blank stares and overly confident statements when I am doing something outside of the lines that GP's must color within. Throughout the years I have had mostly good results after I have completed enough of my own research with the occasional small mishaps that I also learned from and in some cases even led me down new rabbit holes. I have kept my margin of error small enough over the decades that I have not ended up in a medical facility. I would encourage GP's to not give up on learning new things even if they can mostly apply them in their personal lives and rarely in a professional setting. Something must give sooner than later as the USA is spending far too much money to get piss poor results. This system will eventually implode on itself and people will be forced to take a similar path I have taken. I am not saying this to be mean to the medical industry but rather to encourage them to evolve and break the dogmas and financial conflicts that are holding them back even if it means spending some money to reform the legal system.
- LinuxBender 2y agoWhat hammock said. They are right in that heavy metal deposits are unlikely to show up in a blood test. That's the root of the problem in that they are embedded in tissue in vital organs. To get them out requires a combination of many different enzymes to break down biofilms and then EDTA to bind to the metals so the body can remove them. In my case it was a matter of hit-or-miss trial and error. I have basically gone through hundreds of self experiments to find the cause of idiopathic hypertension and heavy metal chelation was the second thing I found that made notable improvements. The first was also related to metal or metalloid, a lack of it in fact. I needed selenium and a handful of other elements to fix the thyroid. I removed myself carefully off two BP meds including a very dangerous one and moved out of the red into the amber by USA standards. With time I will figure out the other causes and get into the green.
- lambdadelirium 2y agoThat primal life toothpaste clearly being primal
- dark-star 2y agoThat title should probably read "US toothpaste", as only US brands were tested. Should come as a surprise to nobody really
- inverted_flag 2y agoSeveral of the samples in the chart came from other countries and also tested positive.
- dark-star 2y agoI found none in the list that were available to buy in Europe. But yes, some of the names were still redacted/censored so there might be one or two
- speed_spread 2y agoThat's why I brush with a 60/40 mix of hummus and sand.
- kjkjadksj 2y agoWait till you hear what is in the hummus and what is in the sand
- jihadjihad 2y agoI'm not sure which would be worse, 60% hummus or 60% humus.
- hyperhello 2y agoThe 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.
- michaelmcdonald 2y agoThis was in the article (linked to from the blog); is it not what you are looking for? "The federal Baby Food Safety Act of 2024, which is stalled in Congress, called for lead limits in kids’ food or personal care products like toothpaste of five parts per billion (ppb). California’s limit on lead in baby food is two ppb, but it does not include toothpaste." "Most toothpastes exceeded those thresholds." "The FDA’s current lead limit for children is 10,000 ppb, and 20,000 ppb for adults. None exceeded the FDA limits." "The state of Washington recently enacted a law with 1,000 ppb limits – several exceeded that and have been reported, Rubin said, but companies have time to get in compliance with the new rules."
- pogue 2y agoHere are the full test results from the person/group who tested the toothpastes: https://tamararubin.com/2025/01/toothpaste-chart/ 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 product & the amount you're consuming. You're most likely not going to get lead poisoning from using a pea sized amount of toothpaste twice a day through brushing & spitting it out. If you swallowed the entire tube of toothpaste that might be a different story. This could be a situation where the pros outweigh the cons and it's just one of those inevitabilities we deal with in life. But, it's entirely possible some brands are using very poor quality control and it's highly contaminated. If you're concerned, you can always get a blood test for heavy metals from your doctor.
- coldpie 2y agoWell put. The argument the testers want to make is that the allowable levels set by the FDA are too high, but they don't seem to be providing evidence (in this particular study) to back that up. Per the article, they've only shown that the levels in toothpaste are indeed below the allowable threshold.
- nisegami 2y agoI'm sending this to everyone who mocked me for cutting toothpaste out (but still brushing like normal).
- typeofhuman 2y agoSame here. I also ditched floss in favor of a water pick.
- e40 2y agoI use both and notice I get better results with both. Some of my teeth are quite close.
- hyperhello 2y agoYou stopped because you assumed toothpaste contained lead without knowing yet?
- lostmsu 2y agoFluoride on its own is pretty toxic. There's a reason you are not supposed to eat the paste and kids do non-fluoride for a while.
- pogue 2y agoFluoride and fluoridated water are non toxic in the levels it's used at and it's a privilege for us to have access to it. If fluoride wasn't put in water by the "guberment" supplement companies would absolutely be hawking it to people as a miracle mineral, including it in our multivitamins and more. Fluoridation: Don’t Let the Poisonmongers Scare You https://quackwatch.org/health-promotion/fluoride/ https://quackwatch.org/health-promotion/fluoride/
- nisegami 2y agoNo, I have sensory issues related to toothpaste.
- 2y ago
- e40 2y agoI'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.
- slau 2y agoWhat do you mean by “it’s what keeps me off sugar”? Do you otherwise have cravings for candy if you don’t satisfy the need with that chocolate? Does fruit satisfy the same craving? I’m asking because I genuinely don’t really get cravings for sweet stuff. There are plenty of candy stores where I live, and there’s a social norm to get “Friday sweets”, especially for parents with children, but I never understood the appeal.
- e40 2y agoIf you don't get cravings for sweet stuff, then you're lucky. I, and many others, associate chocolate with desserts and sweets. Having a small amount of this 90% chocolate does what I said, reduces my cravings for harmful sweets with LOTS of sugar. Fruits are great, but they contain a LOT more sugar (per serving) than 4g. I do eat fruit (with plain yogurt and nuts) once a day, to balance my diet. And, I do feel having it after dinner is a good dessert replacement. It's not enough, though, to reduce my cravings for sugar.
- thimkerbell 2y agoArcInstitute should find a bunch of motivated people like you to enlist in dietary experiments. I wonder if a GLP-1 agonist would affect the craving.
- e40 2y ago> I wonder if a GLP-1 agonist would affect the craving. From what I've read, absolutely 100% would. The reports I've read, it makes eating a chore. People report being disinterested in pretty much all food.
- thimkerbell 2y ago
- mhb 2y agoSo how big a problem is this if you don't eat the toothpaste?
- clumsysmurf 2y agoFrom https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-teeth-and-gums/how-to-keep-your-teeth-clean/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-teeth-and-gums/how-to-k... > After brushing, spit out any excess toothpaste. > Don't rinse your mouth immediately after brushing, as it'll wash away the concentrated fluoride in the remaining toothpaste. > Rinsing dilutes it and reduces its preventative effects. There seems to be a contradiction; rinsing well may minimize exposure from contaminants, but negate the effect of flouride :/
- bitshiftfaced 2y agoHave you ever tried to get a toddler to not swallow their toothpaste?
- more_corn 2y agoRecently guidance is to not rinse after brushing to give the toothpaste 30min to work. The lead information is therefore quite timely.
- georgewsinger 2y agoDoes anyone know if NOVAMIN based toothpastes (e.g. Sensodyne) have been tested?
- sct202 2y agoThe non-novamin Sensodyne was tested at 116ppb for lead and the tester listed the concerning ingredients: hydrated silica and titanium dioxide, which both are in the Sensodyne with Novamin tube I have from the UK.
- SV_BubbleTime 2y agoIt says Sensodybe right in the article. However, typical Guardian, it is an article telling you what to think and not giving you all the information. The question is, is there a safe level of lead, and are these tooth pastes under it?
- pogue 2y agoThey only tested US toothpastes
- more_corn 2y agoPretty sure the scientific consensus is there’s no safe level of lead exposure.
- SV_BubbleTime 2y agoThat is incorrect. The ideal amount is zero. But 1 part per 10 trillion is safe. So… we have an estimated upper limit. Could we lower it without being able to detect a change in health effects? Likely.
- pogue 2y agoNovamin toothpaste is only sold & mfg in the UK. There are some conspiracy theories going around that the ingredient is so good they won't sell it to us in the US! [1] I actually buy it off Amazon and use it myself because I have teeth sensitivity and it contains no SLS, which causes some irritation for me. It is quite interesting stuff. I doubt it would have lead since a synthetic compound. [2] [1] https://medium.com/@ravenstine/the-curious-history-of-novamin-toothpaste-620c6bef8881 https://medium.com/@ravenstine/the-curious-history-of-novami... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioglass_45S5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioglass_45S5
- thimkerbell 2y agoCalcium in diet competes with lead for absorption.
- mertleee 2y agoI'd have to assume the source of contamination is more in production equipment that was poorly maintained rather than the inputs for toothpaste?
- more_corn 2y agoIt’s likely the ingredients.
- bishopolis 2y agoNeither SiO2 nor TiO2 contain Pb.
- meltyness 2y agoOk 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-consulting-with-law-firms/ https://tamararubin.com/2023/07/lead-safe-mama-llc-rates-for... [1] https://tamararubin.com/2025/04/orajel-kids-anti-cavity-toothpaste-with-fluoride-in-fruity-bubble-flavor/ https://tamararubin.com/2025/04/orajel-kids-anti-cavity-toot... [2] https://www.puritylabsinc.com/heavy-metals-testing https://www.puritylabsinc.com/heavy-metals-testing [3] https://www.eag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/High-Purity-Raw-Materials-Brochure.pdf https://www.eag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/High-Purity-R... [4] https://www.agilent.com/en/product/atomic-spectroscopy/inductively-coupled-plasma-mass-spectrometry-icp-ms/what-is-icp-ms-icp-ms-faqs https://www.agilent.com/en/product/atomic-spectroscopy/induc...
- lylejantzi3rd 2y agoAny findings for Apagard?
- foxyv 2y agoBetter 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. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-91554-z/tables/6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-91554-z/tables/6