Toothpaste widely contaminated with lead and other metals, US research finds

The Guardian

17-04-2025

Toothpaste can be widely contaminated with lead and other dangerous heavy metals, new research shows.
Most of 51 brands of toothpaste tested for lead contained the dangerous heavy metal, including those for children, or marketed as green. The testing, conducted by the Lead Safe Mama non-profit, also found concerning levels of highly toxic arsenic, mercury and cadmium in many brands.
About 90% of toothpastes contained lead, 65% contained arsenic, just under half contained mercury, and one-third had cadmium. Many brands contain a number of the toxins.
The highest levels detected violate some federal and state limits in the US, though the thresholds have been roundly criticized by public health advocates for not being protective – no level of exposure to lead is safe, the federal government has found.
'It's unconscionable – especially in 2025,' said Tamara Rubin, Lead Safe Mama's founder. 'What's really interesting to me is that no one thought this was a concern.'
Lead can cause cognitive damage to children, harm the kidneys and cause heart disease, among other issues. Lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic are all carcinogens.
Rubin first learned that lead was added to toothpaste about 12 years ago while working with families that had children with high levels of the metal in their blood. The common denominator among them was a brand of toothpaste, Earthpaste, that contained lead.
Last year she detected high levels in some toothpaste using an XRF lead detection tool. The levels were high enough to raise concern, and she crowdfunded with readers to send popular brands to an independent laboratory for testing.
Among those found to contain the toxins were Crest, Sensodyne, Tom's of Maine, Dr Bronner's, Davids, Dr Jen and others.
So far, none of the companies Lead Safe Mama checked have said they will work to get lead out of their product, Rubin said. Several sent her cease-and-desist letters, which she said she ignored, but also posted on her blog.
Some companies have defended themselves, often claiming that lead is found in trace levels throughout the environment and is impossible to avoid. Others have said the levels Rubin found are not concerning.
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.
The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Crest's parent company, Procter & Gamble.
Rubin said the contamination seems to lie in some ingredients added to toothpaste, including hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate and bentonite clay. Hydroxyapatite is extracted from cow bone and added because it allegedly helps teeth absorb calcium, though Rubin said she doubts it does. Calcium carbonate is added to help remove stains from teeth. Bentonite clay is a cleaning agent.
Those with the highest levels all had bentonite clay. Meanwhile, Rubin's testing of hydroxyapatite and calcium carbonate as individual ingredients showed concerning levels of lead and other metals, suggesting those are the source.
Several children's toothpastes, like Dr Brown's Baby Toothpaste, did not test positive for any metals and did not contain the ingredients in question.