Newly manufactured (2017) sippy cup: tested positive for 3,003 ppm Lead (using XRF technology).
Originally published: February 10, 2017
Updated: 12/13/2020
Please scroll down to the bottom of this page to to see a full size PDF of my original letter (dated January 30, 2017) that was written to the manufacturer of Green Sprouts products after I first discovered Lead in their sippy cups. In this letter I shared with them my finding of Lead paint on their Green Sprouts “Grow With Baby” Glass Sip & Straw cup. The manufacturer’s initial response to this letter was to send their lawyers after us… which was really almost funny because it completely backfired (since our readers are loyal and know we used actual science to determine these findings). Here’s the follow up post with the letter from Green Sprouts’ attorneys from February 25, 2017.
Is Lead paint on Green Sprouts sippy cups still a problem in 2020?
- The specific initial findings on these particular sippy cups was that the painted measurement markings on the glass insert were painted with Lead paint.
- While (after this interaction with them in 2017) the brand initially addressed the problem by including unpainted inserts in their products and then eventually replaced the Lead paint from their new products with a Lead-free formulation I still have concerns about existing (pre-2019) product that is out in the world being used by families.
- I last found Lead in Green Sprouts sippy cup in an example that was purchased new online as late as July of 2018 (more than a year after this initial exchange).
- Given the above point, back stock did not seem to have been pulled from all vendors at the time the issue was identified.
- There was never a formal (government) recall issued for this product that would have precipitated broader awareness.
- In 2020, my ongoing concern is that the Lead painted version of these products (sold through at least Late-2018) are still in circulation – owned by families who never learned about the issue.
- Separately I am concerned that Lead-painted versions of these products have possibly been handed down (second hand) to other families to use (families who won’t be able to know the year of manufacture of the product as a way to help determine the safety of their particular bottle, as the manufacture date is not marked on the product.)
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Update: February 27, 2017
- To read the letter from the Green Sprouts parent company’s attorney (sent to me for publishing these findings, click here.)
- To see what my good friend and fellow blogger (Carissa at Creative Green Living) has to say about all of this, click here. (She was also sent a cease and desist letter from attorneys for reporting on this on her blog!)
Update: February 28, 2017
Update: December 1, 2017
The CPSC declined to call this an official violation of their regulations (contrary to my allegation in the letter below) asserting that the amount of lead paint on this child’s item was an acceptable level of lead paint.
Update: December 13, 2020
Years later the CPSC has continued to decline to take action about this issue, in spite of the problem being found on multiple different brands of glass baby bottles and glass baby food storage containers. Today I published this piece (link here) about the CPSC’s inaction in this matter. There are now (nearly four years after this initial finding) dozens of posts here on the blog about my findings of Lead in baby bottles and baby feeding products. Over the coming days I will work on linking all of those in date order below the image of this initial letter, but you can also scroll through all of them here at this link (there will be multiple pages of results when you click this link).
To see a news story about this click here!
Ugh! Thank you for this info.
Just FYI for others, I purchased two of these cups from Amazon. I contacted Amazon customer support via email, explained the situation and provided a link to this page and Amazon refunded my purchases.
Has Green Sprouts ever responded?
There is no printing on the inner glass part! I’m just trying to understandbecaus so already have 2 of those ;-(
Perhaps your printing wore off already? That was one of the issues, that the lead paint was wearing off with washing (in your dishwasher or wherever.)
Tamara, have any recent cups been tested? I see the new inserts have no painted markings on them? However, the outside of the plastic portion still has the Green Sprouts logo. Has that paint been tested?
Hello Tamara, hope you are well.
Have yoi tested the green sprout cup recently? Do you know if the marking on the outside is lead free? do you know if there areany traces of cadmium as well?
Thank you!
I have just purchased one of these cups. Is lead still an issue in the paint? There are no markings on the glass insert, but there are measure markings on the outside of the cup (on the plastic).