Investigative Report • Consumer Safety • Class Action
Lead in the Toothpaste
Hello Products sold “friendly” toothpaste directly marketed to children as young as two. Independent lab testing found lead levels up to 32 times the EPA’s action limit, and mercury levels up to 9 times the legal threshold for drinking water, inside every tube.
Filed: July 11, 2025 | Source: Browne v. Hello Products LLC, Class Action Complaint
A toothpaste marketed to toddlers and children with the label “safe for all ages” tested at 493 parts per billion of lead — more than 32 times the legal action threshold the EPA uses for drinking water — and Hello Products said nothing.
The Non-Financial Ledger: What a Contaminated Tube Actually Costs
Picture a parent — exhausted, working a double shift, trying to do right by their kid — standing in the Target toothpaste aisle. The Hello Kids’ Watermelon tube has a friendly font. It says “kids ages 2+.” It says “thoughtfully formulated with high quality ingredients.” It says “safe for all ages.” It says “no dyes,” “no artificial flavors,” “no parabens.” This parent reads those labels carefully because they care. They pick up the tube because they trust it. They bring it home. They squeeze it onto their toddler’s brush every night before bed. They are not failing their child. They are being lied to.
That toddler’s brain is still forming. According to the complaint, children store less lead in their bones and teeth than adults do — and more of it directly in their nervous systems. The lead bioaccumulates. The body cannot flush it out as fast as it absorbs it. Every brushing session, every small swallow of toothpaste foam — which is normal for young children who cannot yet rinse and spit reliably — adds to a total that no doctor can fully undo. The complaint draws directly on CDC, FDA, and WHO guidance to confirm that no amount of lead in blood is considered safe. There is no floor. There is no “low enough.” There is only exposure, and the harm that follows.
The harm the complaint describes is not abstract. Lead exposure in children is linked directly to brain and nervous system damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, developmental delays, and diminished IQ. It is linked to ADHD-like symptoms. It is linked to delayed puberty and reduced growth. The research cited in the filing describes children who reach blood lead levels of 40 to 60 micrograms per deciliter developing persistent vomiting, lethargy, delirium, and in extreme cases, coma. Even “relatively modest” exposures — around 10 micrograms per deciliter — have been “consistently associated with a range of kidney abnormalities.” These are the outcomes waiting at the end of a consistent daily exposure from a product that promised to be “good-for-you.”
Then there is the mercury. The complaint details that mercury “even at low concentrations can have harmful long-term health effects, causing headaches, limb pain, tooth loss, or general weakness.” For a child still developing, or a person who is pregnant, the stakes climb further: the EPA and WHO both confirm that high mercury exposure can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system, and that developing nervous systems are especially at risk. The Hello Kids’ Watermelon toothpaste tested at 19 ppb of mercury. The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for inorganic mercury in drinking water is 2 ppb. The product contained nearly ten times that amount. It was going in children’s mouths. Twice a day.
The plaintiff in this case, Damany Browne of Brooklyn, New York, bought Hello Kids toothpaste regularly — roughly every two months — for three years. He purchased both the Dragon Dazzle and the Watermelon varieties from Target stores in Brooklyn and Long Island, and from nearby Walmart locations. He read the labels. He trusted the labels. The complaint states plainly that he would not have bought these products at all — or at minimum would have paid less for them — had Hello Products disclosed what their own manufacturing process produced. He had no way to know. The complaint notes that “the reasonable consumer does not have access to sophisticated scientific resources, nor is the reasonable consumer trained to test the Products for toxins.” He was not negligent. He was deceived.
The Numbers That Should Have Been On the Label
Lead Contamination vs. EPA Action Level (15 ppb) — Hello Products vs. Safe Alternatives
Mercury Contamination vs. EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (2 ppb)
Legal Receipts: Their Own Words, Under Oath
The complaint does not speculate. It quotes Hello Products’ own marketing language, places it next to the lab results, and lets the contrast speak for itself. These are the passages that matter.
“Defendant actively concealed the Products’ shortcomings described above. On information and belief, in response to third-party inquiries regarding the safety of its products, Defendant maintained that its products were safe and denied that the Products contained or risked containing unsafe levels of heavy metals. Further, contrary to the presence or potential presence of heavy metals, Defendant aggressively advertises the Products as safe for children and adults in marketing materials. Additionally, Defendant continues to advertise the products as safe and free of harmful ingredients to this day. These are acts of active concealment.”
Complaint, Paragraph 59 — Active Concealment“Prior to placing the Products into the stream of commerce and the hands of consumers to use on themselves and their children, Defendant knew or should have known that the Products contained or risked containing significant and unsafe levels of lead and/or mercury. Yet Defendant omitted this information on packaging and otherwise failed to warn about the significant presence or risk of presence of heavy metals.”
Complaint, Paragraph 3 — Prior Knowledge“Defendant describes the Products on packaging and advertising as ‘tastes awesome,’ ‘works brilliantly,’ ‘removes plaque,’ ‘thoughtfully formulated with . . . high quality ingredients,’ ‘#brushhappy,’ ‘polishes + brightens,’ ‘safe for all ages,’ ‘no artificial sweeteners,’ ‘no dyes,’ ‘no artificial flavors,’ ‘no parabens,’ ‘no SLS/sulfates,’ ‘no triclosan,’ ‘no gluten,’ ‘no brainer,’ ‘kids all ages,’ ‘kids ages 2+,’ ‘prevents cavities,’ ‘strengthens enamel,’ ‘tastes magical,’ and ‘no preservatives’ . . . Yet Defendant fails to disclose the risk or presence of unsafe levels of heavy metals.”
Complaint, Paragraph 60 — Contrary/Partial Representations“Defendant is aware of the raw inputs used to manufacture the Products and, thus, was aware that the Products were manufactured with significant levels of heavy metals present in the finished Products. Further, on information and belief, Defendant conducts tests, including pre-sale testing, to verify the contents and specifications of the Products sold. Indeed, Defendant repeatedly touts that its products are free of ‘bad’ and harmful ingredients, and instead use ‘high quality’ ingredients, as a way to differentiate itself in the marketplace.”
Complaint, Paragraph 58 — Superior Knowledge“Plaintiff, through counsel, served a notice of breach letter on Defendant. The letter was delivered July 1, 2025. As of this filing, Defendant has not offered a remedy or otherwise responded.”
Complaint, Paragraph 141 — No Response from Hello ProductsSocietal Impact: Who Gets Hurt and How Deeply
Public Health: A Daily Dose of Toxin
The public health damage in this case is compounded by the product’s intended use. Toothpaste is not a product you use occasionally. You use it twice a day, every day, for years. The complaint specifically flags that toothpaste is “swallowed and absorbed sublingually when used by adults, and even more so by young children.” Sublingual absorption means the heavy metals enter the bloodstream directly through the tissue under the tongue — bypassing the digestive system’s limited ability to filter toxins. With each use, the body absorbs a dose it cannot fully expel.
The concept of bioaccumulation is central to understanding why this matters. The complaint cites Consumer Reports research explaining that heavy metals build up in the body faster than they can be processed out. For a two-year-old brushing twice a day with Hello Kids Watermelon toothpaste, the lead at 493 ppb and mercury at 19 ppb accumulate session by session, month by month. The CDC’s own guidance cited in the complaint states: “Because lead can accumulate in the body, even low-level chronic exposure can be hazardous over time.” The product was not a one-time risk. It was a subscription to daily heavy metal exposure.
The medical consequences documented in the complaint are not hypothetical edge cases. For children, the filing lists brain and nervous system damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, developmental delays, diminished mental capacity, ADHD-type symptoms, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. For adults, the risks include kidney damage, cardiovascular problems, reproductive damage, brain damage, immune suppression, hypertension, and cancer. Mercury adds its own list: gastrointestinal tract damage, kidney effects, mood swings, memory loss, mental disturbances, muscle weakness, and central nervous system toxicity. The complaint cites research showing that workers exposed to mercury vapor at 20 micrograms per cubic meter for several years developed measurable nervous system toxicity. The product placed these toxins directly in the mouths of children whose parents had every reason to believe it was safe.
Critically, the complaint establishes that all of this was avoidable. Lead Safe Mama’s independent testing found that at least five competing brands — including Orajel Kids Training Toothpaste, Dr. Brown’s Fluoride-free Baby Toothpaste, and Kid’s Spry Tooth Gel — produced children’s toothpaste with non-detectable levels of lead and mercury (less than 5 ppb, likely zero). The complaint states plainly: “the heavy metals are avoidable constituents in the Products and Defendant’s manufacturing process.” Hello Products did not face some unavoidable industrial limitation. Other companies solved this problem. Hello Products sold the contaminated product anyway, and marketed it to toddlers.
Economic Inequality: The Families Who Had the Least Margin for Error
The class action covers purchases across New York State, and the complaint notes that Hello Products generates “tens of millions” in sales in New York alone each year. The people buying toothpaste at Target and Walmart — the specific stores named in Damany Browne’s account — are predominantly working-class and middle-class families. These are not households with private pediatric toxicologists on speed dial. These are parents making daily purchasing decisions based on label claims, because that is how consumer markets are supposed to work.
The deception has a financial dimension that compounds the health dimension. Plaintiff Browne and every class member paid a price premium for a product whose selling point was safety, quality ingredients, and child-friendliness. The complaint is explicit: he would not have paid what he paid had he known the truth. The class seeks damages equal to the full purchase price, or at minimum the difference between what was paid and what the contaminated product was actually worth. The complaint estimates over 1,000 class members in New York alone, and the aggregate amount in controversy exceeds $5,000,000 ($5 million — enough to cover groceries for roughly 3,300 American families for an entire year). These families were not just deceived in a philosophical sense. They were charged money for a product that posed a measurable health risk to their children.
The economic harm also runs downstream. A child with elevated blood lead levels faces years of medical monitoring, possible remediation treatments, and long-term developmental consequences that affect educational achievement and lifetime earning potential. The research is unambiguous: lead exposure in early childhood correlates with reduced IQ and increased behavioral problems, both of which have documented economic consequences over a lifetime. The families who bought Hello Products’ toothpaste did not just lose a few dollars at the register. They may have incurred costs that compound for decades — and they made that purchase trusting a brand that knew or should have known what was in the tube.
The Cost of Silence: What Hello Products Chose
Hello Products Annual New York Sales (Estimated)
Generated in New York State alone, per year, while lead levels in their children’s toothpaste registered at up to 493 ppb — 32 times the EPA action threshold for lead in drinking water.
The CDC, FDA, and WHO all say: there is no safe level of lead in blood. Zero. Hello Products chose revenue over disclosure.What Disclosure Would Have Cost
Adding a warning to packaging costs nothing. At minimum, Hello Products could have reformulated — five competing brands already achieved non-detectable lead levels using current manufacturing technology.
The class seeks damages of $50 per violation under NY GBL §349 and $500 per violation under NY GBL §350 — plus punitive, treble, and statutory damages on top.What Now: How to Push Back
The lawsuit names Hello Products LLC directly and seeks an injunction to force the company to remove misleading label claims, disgorge profits, and pay damages to every class member. The legal machinery is running. Here is what else you can do right now.
The Watchlist: Regulatory Bodies That Must Act
- FDA (Food and Drug Administration) — Oversees cosmetics and oral hygiene product safety. File a MedWatch report at fda.gov/safety/medwatch if you used Hello Products toothpaste and experienced health concerns.
- FTC (Federal Trade Commission) — Enforces truth-in-advertising law. Hello Products’ marketing claims are the exact type of false advertising the FTC was created to prosecute. Report at ftc.gov/complaint.
- CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) — Has authority over consumer product hazards. File a report at SaferProducts.gov.
- State Attorneys General — New York’s AG office enforces GBL §349 and §350 independently of private litigation. Contact the NYS AG Consumer Frauds Bureau directly.
- Lead Safe Mama (tamararubin.com) — The independent organization whose testing exposed this contamination. They rely on community funding. Support their work directly.
If You Bought These Products
Keep your receipts or purchase records from Target, Walmart, or Amazon. The class period covers a minimum of three years back from the July 11, 2025 filing date. You do not need to have experienced symptoms to be a class member — you were charged for a product that was materially misrepresented.
The Bigger Picture
This case is one part of a wider, growing reckoning with heavy metals in consumer products marketed to children. Baby food, teething rings, toys, and now toothpaste — the pattern is consistent: companies know, regulators lag, and families absorb the cost in their children’s health. The only consistent force that has moved these companies is organized legal and public pressure. Share this investigation. Support the organizations doing independent lab testing. And when a company tells you its product is “thoughtfully formulated with high quality ingredients” and “good-for-you,” demand the lab data.
The source document for this investigation is attached below.
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