Does TUMS contain lead?
Lead occurs naturally in our environment. All animal and plant tissues contain small amounts of lead, as does the soil from which plants and plant-derived foods are grown. Consequently, nearly everything that we ingest — including water, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products — contains lead in some small amount. Many calcium supplements with the active ingredient calcium carbonate (the most efficiently absorbed form of calcium), including TUMS, are derived from sources where trace amounts of lead occur naturally. Since removing lead entirely is impossible, the goal in producing our product is to refine the calcium carbonate to a level where the lead content is in very trace, and safe, amounts. All of the raw materials that go into the TUMS product are assayed prior to manufacture to insure that the trace levels of lead meet the permissible level established by the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), the body responsible for determining standards for strength and purity of drug
