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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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Published: January 25, 2019
Updated: November 9, 2023

My grandfather’s sister’s husband (my great-uncle – a military doctor in World War 2!) owned these glasses (c. 1940s / 1950s) as part of his very well appointed basement bar. My husband and I inherited the full set (each with a different named poison on the artwork) when my aunt passed away.

While I ended up selling our copies of these vintage glasses on eBay (long before my children were acutely Lead-poisoned – long before I really knew anything about Lead toxicity for that matter), when I spotted these “Name Your Poison” glasses again (in the home of a family I was working with to help them identify [and eliminate] sources of Lead  – and other heavy metals – in their environment) I had a new body of knowledge about this type of product and was certain that (ironically – given the artwork of the design of these particular glasses) they would test positive for at least one (and possibly more than one) toxic heavy metal. My assumption was correct, as they tested positive for unsafe levels of both Lead (a neurotoxin) and Cadmium (a carcinogen).

The example of this particular glass just really brings the concept home-  know that even everyone in my family used to own many of these toxic (unsafe, potentially quite harmful to human health) mass manufactured items too.

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XRF Test Results for The “Arsenic, Name Your Poison” Glass Pictured

When tested with an XRF instrument this “‘Arsenic’ Name Your Poison” vintage barware glass had the following readings:

• Lead (Pb): 96,700 +/- 3,600 ppm
• Cadmium (Cd): 2,378 +/- 166
• Chromium (Cr): 1,284 +/- 520 ppm
• … but NO ARSENIC!!!! LOL!!!

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How much Lead & Cadmium is “too much” Lead & Cadmium?

Unfortunately, total Lead & Cadmium content in most items manufactured for use by adults is not regulated (now or in the past.) As a result, even today one finds examples of newly manufactured items (made for use by adults specifically) with incredibly unsafe levels of these toxic heavy metals.

The best (most relevant)information to share to help lend some context to the level of concern for the toxic heavy metals found in the paint in this glassware are the regulatory standards for items manufactured for use by children. Regulatory standards for items intended for use by children are essentially the only relevant regulatory standards limiting the total content (which is different that the leachable content) of heavy metals in consumer goods.

Separately, modern consumer goods intended for use with food must meet or exceed leach-testing standards (set by the FDA), however leach-testing standards only apply to the interior of a vessel (like the interior of a cup or mug or cooking pot) – not the exterior, so even modern (newly manufactured) items intended for use with food can still have unsafe levels of Lead (or other toxic heavy metals) on the exterior surfaces of the vessel. You can read more specifically about why that is a problem in this article – link.

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Concerning Levels – For Context:

• Lead is considered unsafe for children (in the paint, glaze or coating of an item made today and expressly manufactured for use by children) when the Lead levels exceeds 90 parts per million (ppm.)
• All U.S. federal agencies agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for humans.
• One can therefore have context for understanding that 96,700 ppm Lead in the painted markings on the exterior surface of glassware (intended for use with beverages) is quite a lot of Lead, and – in fact – enough Lead to potentially cause harm to even adult users of the product.
• This concern for the level of Lead in the paint on the exterior of this vintage barware glass (and most similar painted vintage barware) is compounded by the age and state of wear of the item:
  • the more used  / more worn a Lead-painted consumer good is (especially when the Lead levels are this high) the more likely it is that unsafe levels of of Lead (in microparticulate form) could be ingested through normal hand-to-mouth behavior of the person using this glass. One specific example of the potential pathway for ingestion of Lead (at invisible, yet harmful levels) when using an item like the glass pictured, would be if the user of this glass were to be drinking from the glass while also eating a finger-food type item – like corn chips or potato chips.
• This study (from England, 2017) is one of many studies that clearly demonstrated that the above potential ingestion pathway (from using Lead-painted glassware like this as intended) is a legitimate health concern.

Separately, Cadmium has been found to be unsafe for humans at levels of 40 ppm and higher in consumer goods. Cadmium is a known carcinogen  – so finding 2,378 ppm Cadmium in the deteriorating exterior paint of a food use item is quite concerning as well. This article (link) discusses more in depth the concern for Lead when it is “only on the outside” of a food use item like this glass.

As always please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them personally as soon as I have a moment.

Thank you for reading and for sharing Lead Safe Mama posts and articles! Thank you for participating in the international conversation for consumer goods safety and childhood Lead poisoning prevention.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama