Safer products: start here

How this page works

For a long time this was a flat archive — every article SafeMama had published, in one very long list. That was useful when the site was small and a search box was the only other option. It is less useful now, and a list of two hundred headlines is not a way to answer a question.

So this is a directory instead. If you know the room, or the question, start here.

If you came here about lead

A lot of people do, and lead does not belong to a single department — it turns up in dishware, in drinking water, in old paint, in imported goods and in some toys. So it gets its own entry point.

Lead-free dishes: what you can actually verify is the practical starting point. Its central argument is worth stating here too: "lead-free" is not a regulated term on dinnerware, so we build from materials where the absence of lead is structural — stainless steel and plain uncoated glass have no glaze to carry it — rather than from claims on a listing.

Risk is not spread evenly. It concentrates in vintage and antique pieces, brightly decorated ceramics, handmade and imported traditional pottery, and anything with a chipped or crazed glaze.

And there is a limit to what an editorial site can tell you. If your question is whether a specific object you already own contains lead, that needs instrument testing, not an opinion — here is who does that work, including Tamara Rubin at Lead Safe Mama, who has been XRF-testing consumer goods since 2009. If you were searching for her, that page will get you there.

By department

Food & Kitchen — The most active area right now, because the regulatory picture is genuinely moving. Red 3 has been revoked by FDA order with a January 2027 compliance deadline for food; the six other petroleum-based dyes are a voluntary industry request with no enforceable date. Also here: BPA in canned food. NIEHS puts the main route of BPA exposure for most people in the diet — "BPA in food and beverages accounts for the majority of daily human exposure" — and names the epoxy resin lining of cans as one of the places it leaches from. The bottles that got most of the attention are a closed question: FDA amended its food additive regulations in 2012 and 2013 so that BPA-based materials are no longer provided for in baby bottles, sippy cups or infant formula packaging, on the basis that those uses had been abandoned.

Body & Personal — Sunscreen, deodorant, bug repellent and skincare. The sunscreen cheat sheet is the fastest way in.

Baby & Child — Feeding gear, teethers and pacifiers, toys, nursery. If you are here about soft plastic specifically, our TPR explainer answers the question most product labels will not.

Home & Environment — Water, air quality, cleaning and sleep.

Digital Safety — Screen time and parental controls.

The three questions that come up most

"Is this soft rubbery plastic safe?" Usually silicone or TPR, and generally a safer choice — the full answer is here.

"Which canned foods are BPA-free?" The cheat sheet lists the brands that moved, the ones mid-transition, and the two that said no.

"What do I actually need to avoid in food dye?" Start with what Red 40 is found in, then the dye-free snack list — it covers a proper elimination too.

How we decide what goes on a list

Every recommendation on this site is checked against a live product catalog, so prices and availability are current rather than whatever was true when an article was written. Where we make a factual claim about a regulation or a study, we link the source. Where we are uncertain, we say so — and where a product we used to recommend is discontinued, we say that too rather than leaving a dead link.

Our how we choose page publishes the scoring formula in full.