I am so thankful that Young Living was able to confirm my findings that there is Lead in their diffusers!

If you are new to this concern (if you just found out about the concern for leaded components found in essential oil diffusers and this is the first post you have stumbled on) please consider starting here (link to post with my initial findings) instead of starting with this post.

As a second post (before reading below), you might also want to read this post – link here. Thank you!

This is one of the public statements that was shared with me.

(Continue reading below the image to see my response!)

Here’s my point-by-point response to the above [note: no response was ever made to me directly by Young Living. They did not call me, e-mail me, nor message me. The responses I have posted here (above and below) are ones that have been shared with me by my readers. Thank you readers!]:

For future reference, my name is not “Ms. Rubin”, it is Mrs. Rubin . I have worked my ass off as a wife and mother and I have earned the title of Mrs.; please refer to me as Mrs. Rubin in any future communications, thank you. ;-). [For those who don’t know me…this comment <<< is supposed to be an attempt at humor as well as an illustration that they have not bothered to introduce themselves to me. Y’all can call me Tamara, Lead Safe Mama or The Lead Lady!!]

At no point did I ever claim or imply that the diffusers “emit Lead into the atmosphere”. I simply reported that they had a component that was positive for Lead when tested with an XRF instrument, and that further study is warranted, given the finding of the presence of Lead.

In the first section of your note you use the words “…and determined that this was, in fact, not the case.” What exactly did you determine was not the case? The structure of this sentence is misleading — in that it makes it seem like you determined there was no Lead in the product, when what I suspect what you may have intended to convey was merely that your leach testing results were negative – as you go on to make other statements that confirm that you now know that there is Lead in the product — but that, in your opinion, it is inaccessible under normal use conditions.

And on that note, thank you, Young Living – for confirming what the XRF analysis indicated: that the washer is Leaded brass, with a chrome plating. Given my finding of 2,282 ppm Lead in the washer/ring, your statement that the ring is chrome coated brass clearly indicates to me that, as I suspected, the brass underneath the chrome is likely common Leaded brass — with a typical reading of approximately 30,000 to 40,000 ppm Lead — and that the chrome plating in effect “diluted” (lowered) the XRF instrument’s quantitative estimate of the Lead that was detected, as it included in the parts per million total – the content of the chrome plating in addition to that of the Leaded brass below base material. [ See more of my posts about Leaded Brass here. ] As this is a complicated concept I want to give one more example of it: When testing paint in a home I might come up with a reading of 1,000 ppm Lead using the XRF instrument to test a surface layer of paint. If that reading is through many layers of new paint I can assume the paint underneath is a much higher level of lead, as the reading is “diluted” by the layers of new paint on top. In cases like that I have found the base layer of Lead paint to be positive for Lead in the 5,000 to 10,000 ppm range. So in the example of the ring of the diffuser: Leaded brass is generally positive for 30,000 to 40,000 ppm Lead and the “chrome coating” of the ring is like the top layers of paint diluting the reading.

Please note the following concern: as with all metal, metal plating can eventually wear with use — be that ultrasonic vibrations (there’s a study about that!), exposure to citrus oils or other kinds of use. Leach testing done on newly-manufactured products – based on just four hours of use – is not necessarily representative of leach testing results that might be found on a product that has had hundreds of hours of use and possible related wear.

That said, my concern is (and always has been) identifying and eliminating the prevalence of highly-neurotoxic Lead in our environment – and ending the continued poisoning of our planet by the mining, refining and manufacturing of this nasty metal . My concern has NEVER been merely whether or not a particular manufactured product leaches any Lead at the time of manufacture. On principle, the simple fact that a product purporting to impart health benefits contains any Lead at all seems in the words of Leonard Nimoy’s immortal Spock, “highly illogical”, and I maintain that it should not contain any lead at all— considering there are always easy, non-poisonous alternatives. Yet you – Young Living – have, with this letter (but not in so many specific words), confirmed that you acknowledge/are aware that your product contains Lead — and that it is not an issue you are willing to remedy because, as far as you can tell, there is no immediate harm to the end user.

Looking beyond the ecological implications, what if the unit came apart at some point? Do you realize that that little leaded ring is small enough to be swallowed by a child? That their stomach acid is likely strong enough to dissolve the chrome coating? And that a child could easily be severely poisoned ( and even die ) if they swallowed an item like that?

Given even a minute – seemingly improbable – possibility of #7 happening, why – now that you know your product contains Lead — now that everyone knows it contains Lead — why don’t you simply apologize to your customers, REMOVE THE LEADED COMPONENT, AND SOURCE OR MAKE A COMPLETELY LEAD-FREE ONE?

Sometimes, taking responsibility for your actions in a positive and proactive way gains you more love and respect (=more business) from the public than trying to discredit the work of an environmental activist and mother of Lead-poisoned children, after your own research has actually confirmed her finding [even though you wrote a statement that – to a less-technically educated lay person – might lead them to think that your research refutes my findings.]

You may be surprised to learn that many companies have actually THANKED me for finding problems like this with their products — and some have subsequently donated generously to my GoFundMe, as a further show of support. To be clear: I am most definitely not asking for this, but it illustrates alternative more productive possible reactions that some responsible companies have had to learning their product contains any amount of an extremely dangerous neurotoxicant known to cause permanent damage to humans – particularly young children.

YOUNG LIVING, here is my REVISED DRAFT of your statement – as I suggest you should send it out to your reps and customer base:

On or about January 3rd the company was made aware that Tamara Rubin, multiple-federal-award winning environmental activist and mother of lead poisoned children, discovered Lead in our diffusers using XRF testing. We immediately confirmed her findings with additional independent testing. As a result of this new information, we are temporarily halting sales of the diffusers impacted by this issue and replacing the component in question with a Lead-free component. From here on out, we will also make a commitment that you can count on us to produce Lead-free products in the future. We also did leach testing of the diffusers in question and found no Lead to be actively leaching from the component at the time of manufacture, and we are confident about the safety of the existing diffusers that you have in your home. However, should you be concerned about this issue and prefer a replacement diffuser when we have the Lead-free component available, please let us know and we will replace it at no charge. As an alternative to sending in the diffuser for a replacement we are also offering that you can register your existing diffuser (with the Leaded component) with us and we will give you a one-time $50.00 coupon towards a future purchase. We’d like to also publicly thank Tamara for bringing our attention to this matter. – Young Living

Of course… that’s in a perfect world. Let’s see what doTerra’s next response is, maybe they will learn from Young Living! 😉 [Click here to see the latest response from doTerra shared with me by my readers today.]

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts!

Tamara Rubin

#LeadSafeMama

Continue reading below image.

In this image the arrows point to the metal ring that is “chrome coated brass”.

Another version of the actual Young Living response is below.

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to Product Support. We are happy to assist you with your questions. We are aware of the claims that were made regarding lead in the Dewdrop™ Diffuser.

Once we were made aware of the lead claim, the D. Gary Young Research Institute, directed by Dr. Mike Buch, immediately organized additional tests to check for lead and determined that this was, in fact, not the case.

The washer in question is made of brass coated with chrome. Ms. Rubin’s XRF (x-ray fluorescence) testing method penetrated through the sample, testing the underlying brass, which does not contact the liquid in the diffuser because of the chrome plating. In the case of our diffuser, it is the part of the washer that contacts the liquid, not the underlying brass, that is relevant for safety. Additionally, the diffuser was sent out for independent, third-party testing. The diffuser was tested with distilled water, as well as a mixture of water and Lemon essential oil, and no lead was detected in any of the test samples after four-hour run times. This indicates that the chrome plating on the washer does prevent any lead from contacting the diffuser solution. Lab results are available for review upon request. We hope this information is helpful. Have a wonderful day!

If you have additional questions or concerns, or if we can assist you in any way, please feel free to contact us via telephone at 1-800-371-3515, fax at 866-203-5666, email at productsupport@youngliving.com, or our Live Help feature at http://www.youngliving.com.

Sincerely,

Anita

Product Support

Young Living® Essential Oils

3125 W Executive Parkway

Lehi, UT 84043

Phone: 1-800-371-3515

Fax: 1-866-203-5666