Pellegrino Green Glass Water Bottle: 116 ppm Lead (Please click & read to learn more.)

The San Pellegrino Green Glass Water Bottle (pictured below)
tested positive for 116 ppm Lead (Pb) when tested with an XRF instrument.

My readers has a LOT of questions about this bottle when I first posted this information.

Please read the following questions and answers below, and let me know if you have any additional questions after you read this. Thank you.

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See Similar Bottles I Have Tested Here.

• Question: Is this amount of Lead a problem? Is it leaching into the water?
  • Answer: I have no idea if this is leaching or not, the testing I do of the object (in this case the bottle) only measures the total Lead content in the glass, not whether or not it is leaching or bioavailable in any way.
• Question: What is the unit of measurement for this test result and how was the item tested?
  • Answer: All of my readings are in PPM (parts per million) as detected with an XRF. To learn more about XRF testing, Click HERE.
• Question: What is an XRF instrument?
  • Answer: Here is a post about the XRF instrument I use (and would like to own.)
• Question: Is 116 ppm Lead a LOT of Lead?
  • Answer: For context: the amount of lead that is considered unsafe in an item intended for children (under some specific circumstances) is 90 ppm lead.
• Question: But, Tamara – what is YOUR educated opinion? Do YOU think it might be leaching: 
  • Answer: Based on the Lead level of this water bottle being VERY low… I would assume it is likely not leaching.
• Question: Tamara, why do you think this is a LOW level of Lead for glass, especially since it is a higher reading than what is considered safe for children’s toys?
  • Answer: For context, Leaded crystal (which we know for certain leaches, based on studies that have been done) usually something in the range of 200,000 to 400,000 ppm lead… this green glass soda water bottle is just 116 ppm lead. [Read more about Leaded crystal HERE.]

I don’t know the acidity of the contents or how it is stored (hot or cold environments) or how long it stays in the bottles – so I would assume there are conditions under which it could be leaching, but again I would not personally be super concerned about a bottle with this level of lead actually impacting the ORIGINAL contents.

A couple of people have told me they have REUSED these bottles for fermenting Kombucha. This I would NOT do. Even with a very slim possibility of leaching, the process of brewing Kombucha is exactly the kind of thing that would cause something to leach if it might.  Kombucha should only be brewed (and pickles and kraut fermented) in KNOWN lead-free vessels.  I have been KICKED OUT of Facebook groups for fermenting for even bringing this up! [and for suggesting that vintage vessels are not appropriate for fermenting, and glazed vessels are also not ideal for fermenting – unless you know for certain the glaze is lead-free!]

IF you served water from this bottle to me while I was visiting YOUR house – I would likely be fine having some. Your tap water probably has more lead than this water, frankly! (If you want to check your tap water for lead, please Click HERE. My friend owns a company that makes a water test kit that you send away for and get results in about 5 days).

I have decided that I personally will no longer purchase bottled carbonated water in green bottles like this, just on principle. No matter how minute any actual health risk to my family might be (as I said, I would assume it to be quite low if there is any risk at all)—there is no valid reason we (as consumers) ever need to accept ANY lead, (nor mercury, cadmium, etc) in a bottle we put to our lips. There are plenty of examples of glass bottles – even some colored ones – that do not have any detectable levels of toxic heavy metals – and getting/keeping them out of as many of the products we consume as possible reduces not only the possible cumulative exposure for our families — but also helps to reduce the the very real and horrific health impacts borne by workers and their communities across the planet (by reducing the mining, refining, manufacturing and distribution in the form of finished goods and end-of-life handling and disposal of the millions of tons of these naturally-rare-but-now-ubiquitous toxicants in circulation in our environment.)

We use our own reusable water bottles most of the time, so don’t often buy bottled water.

I have tested the clear glass LifeFactory bottles and they have ALWAYS, CONSISTENTLY had ZERO lead.

I think that’s all I have to say about the matter right now!  Thanks for reading! OMG, in less than a day this post has had 78 shares with a reach of 17,278 people – WOW!

If you appreciate what I do, the simplest way you can help support my advocacy work at NO EXTRA COST to you is to click on the Amazon affiliate link ads to the right on this page (or on the bottom if you are on your phone!). If you click on any of the links before you start your Amazon shopping as you normally would, then Amazon sends me a percentage of whatever you spend (usually about 6%) – and you don’t even have to buy the items pictured! 😉

Happy shopping!  & Thank you for your support!  – Tamara

Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts.

As always, Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama