Vistaprint Orca Coatings Photo Mug: 676 ppm Lead & 718 ppm Arsenic. 90 ppm Lead is unsafe for kids.
Post originally published: December 24, 2016
Updated: February 19, 2020
When tested with an XRF instrument this mug came in with the following readings:
How much Lead is “too much” Lead?
The amount of Lead that is considered unsafe – and illegal – in a modern / newly-manufactured item made and sold for use by children today is anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint / glaze or coating, and anything 100 ppm Lead or higher in the substrate. Ceramic dishes (including mugs) are not covered by this regulatory standard (even though it is my opinion that they should be — because children obviously use dishes!)
If this mug was manufactured today with these levels and (explicitly) sold as “intended for use by children” it would likely be considered both unsafe and illegal. If it were manufactured today and sold for use by adults (i.e. not explicitly marketed as “intended for use by children“), it would be considered perfectly safe and legal (as long as it met regulatory limits for leach testing of Lead – at the time of manufacture)!
Note: I have learned that leach-testing conducted by manufacturers is generally not inclusive of the exterior surfaces of a vessel used for cooking or consuming foods, so it is unlikely that the exterior of these mugs complied with the leach testing standards that were in place when it was manufactured.
Some additional reading that may be of interest:
- To see more of the mugs I have tested, click here.
- For my advice on choosing a Lead-free mug, click here.
- To see more photo mugs I have tested, click here.
- To learn more about the testing methodologies used for the test results reported on this site, click here.
- To read more about the concern for toxicants found in dishware (including mugs), click here.
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
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Are Duralex mugs 100% free of lead and cadmium? I’m in the process of replacing all my mugs.
I was reading the mugs have a logo on the bottom,. Does that leach into the rest of the mug over time.
Thank you
All of the ones I have tested have been – please look up Duralex here on the website. None of them have had printed logos on the bottom in my experience (they have logos that are raised glass, the same color as the glass.) Here’s the Duralex category of posts on the website:
https://tamararubin.com/?s=duralex
T
Hi tamara,
Was a new mug from ocra coatings purchased in 2020 and tested again? or this is solely the mug from 2016?
I am curious since the company currently claims (online) that they are completely lead free and meet prop 65 standards.
Thank you!
Also curious about the newer mugs meeting prop 65 standards. MIL just send a box full of Christmas gift mugs for each child and I don’t know what to do with them