Lead may be the last thing you ponder as you sip morning coffee or gulp a glass of orange juice.
But you could be ingesting lead if your mug or juice pitcher is ceramic, glossy, brightly painted and imported.
Improperly manufactured ceramic ware-covered with lead-based glazes or fired at too low a temperature-is on the hot seat as a dangerous source of lead in the diet.
The Food and Drug Administration has recently banned the import of some ceramics from Spain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and what formerly was Yugoslavia because they contain dangerous amounts of lead.
Lead is toxic and is especially harmful to children and developing fetuses, says Randy Louchart, public health adviser for the lead poisoning branch of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Lead damages the neurological system and can cause brain damage. It also causes kidney complications and iron deficiency.
Adults ”take lead better,” says Louchart, but lead builds up in the bones and can lead to hypertension and reproductive woes. Even if a mother`s exposure to lead was long before she became pregnant, the body can store lead in the bones for more than 20 years and release it during pregnancy.
Ceramics are only one source of exposure. Lead can leach from old pipes and solder into drinking water. And while lead-based paint no longer is used in home construction, older homes may still contain it. Household dust and yard soil may be contaminated with lead from paint and gasoline exhaust and vapors.
Louchart ranks the danger of lead exposure from ceramics right behind that from paint, which is the source that poses the greatest risk. But he says it`s far easier to get a steady dose from everyday contact with ceramics-drinking coffee from a lead-leaching mug or storing leftovers in a lead-leaching bowl.
The problem is aggravated when dishes that contain lead are used for storage or to heat acid-based foods like fruit juices, wine, tomato products and salad dressings. These foods leach lead more quickly than neutral foods like potatoes. Heating ceramic dishes, especially in a microwave oven, causes lead to seep out.
And you don`t escape the problem of lead exposure, even if you dine on $150 china plates.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), along with the California Department of Health and the Office of the California Attorney General, filed a lawsuit last November against 10 well-known china manufacturers, including Wedgwood and Villeroy & Boch. The suit alleges some patterns have dangerous levels of lead and didn`t contain warning labels, as mandated by the state`s Proposition 65.
As a result, the FDA tightened what had been considered ”obsolete”
acceptable levels. But even today, federal levels are still 5 to 10 times more lenient than what California allows.
To make matters worse, the FDA only performs random testing of ceramics that come into this country.
If you`re unsure about the lead content of your everyday or fine china, you can perform a lead check at home. Kits cost $20 to $30 and can test 8 to 100 dishes.
You rub a swab across the surface of the dish, and the swab will turn from yellow to pink in less than a minute if lead is present. The home tests aren`t as scientific as what a laboratory might perform, but they will detect high lead-leaching potential.
If you don`t want to test your china and ceramics, you can take the manufacturer`s word for it.
What`s safe for using with food? Clear glass dishes, stoneware without painted or decal-type decorations on the surface and lead-free and certified low-lead china.
