If you were shocked by the hundreds of thousands of microplastics we swallow when we chew gum, you’re in for another spook. New research is revealing that dozens of common toothpaste brands are contaminated with toxic metals.
Lead Safe Mama (LSM), an organization dedicated to preventing childhood lead poisoning through independent testing of consumer goods, has revealed that popular toothpaste and tooth powder products contain levels of lead, mercury, arsenic, and/or cadmium—all of which are toxic. Though not all lab reports have been published yet, 90% of the 51 analyzed toothpastes tested positive for lead, including well-known brands like Sensodyne Extra Whitening Toothpaste, Tom’s of Maine Kid’s Natural Toothpaste, and Crest Regular Toothpaste. 65% of the brands contain arsenic, 47% contain mercury, and 35% contain cadmium.
“It’s unconscionable – especially in 2025,” Tamara Rubin, Lead Safe Mama’s founder, told the Guardian. “What’s really interesting to me is that no one thought this was a concern.”
As of now, the lab tests did not detect lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium in only five of the analyzed toothpastes: Dr. Brown’s Baby Toothpaste, Kids’ Spry Tooth Gel with Xylitol, Pegciz Toothpaste (Foam), Orajel Training Toothpaste, and Miessence Toothpaste. These brands demonstrate “that it truly is possible to manufacture safer toothpaste choices!” Rubin wrote in the LSM blog post sharing the toxicant profiles, which were updated Thursday to reflect the most recent lab results.
Surprisingly, none of the products exceed the US Food and Drug Administration’s recommended limits for lead contamination in cosmetics, which are 10,000 parts per billion. Washington State, however, recently passed a law limiting lead contamination in cosmetic products, specifically including toothpastes, to 1,000 ppb, and several brands surpassed this limit. According to the World Health Organization, there is no known level of lead exposure that does not negatively impact health. In other words, any and all exposure to lead is harmful.
“The foundation of the work of LSM is the understanding (and agreement with the scientific and medical consensus) that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for humans,” Rubin wrote, “and that we (as consumers) should demand that companies be held accountable for manufacturing and selling lead-contaminated products, especially products marketed and sold for use by children.”
According to their website, LSM has been independently testing consumer goods—such as toys, household items, and jewelry—via crowd-sourced funding for sixteen years. In 2024 they started sending hundreds of community-nominated products—including food, supplements, cosmetics, and personal care items—to third-party labs to test for lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. The lab reports are all published online, freely accessible to the public.
While the results of the lab analysis are certainly worrying, they also highlight an inspiring example of concerned citizens taking their health into their own hands and empowering others to keep themselves and their children safe.
:quality(85):upscale()/2025/04/11/822/n/1922153/aad0c3a267f96326934802.95095984_.png)
English (US) ·