Made In Mexico Blue Glazed Ceramic Bowl: 39,596 ppm Lead, 25,137 ppm Arsenic, & more than 100,000 ppm Mercury.

 

I tested this blue glazed made in Mexico ceramic bowl with an XRF instrument, and it had the following readings:

• Lead (Pb): 39,596 ppm
• Arsenic (As): 25,137 ppm
• Mercury (Hg): 100,000 ppm

For context, the amount of Lead that is considered unsafe in a newly manufactured item intended for use by children is anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint, glaze, or other coating – or anything 100 ppm Lead or higher in the substrate (in an item like this, the substrate is the underlying bare ceramic base material below the decorative glaze). Lead, Mercury and Arsenic should simply NOT be in functional dishware.

[Dishware is not regulated in the same way as an item explicitly intended for children (unless it is both recently manufactured dishware and has been expressly made and marketed for use by children).]

Unfortunately, in all my testing to date, I have found that Mexican pottery almost always has very high Lead content in the glaze; it’s a rare exception that this is not the case. Mexican pottery should not be used for food-use purposes unless you know for sure that it is Lead-free (and if it is marked Lead-free that is by no means any kind of assurance that it is actually Lead-free!)

• To see more examples of items from Mexico that I have tested, click here.
• To see more glazed ceramic items I have tested, click here.
• To read more about the concern for Lead in dishware, click here.
• For safer choices for your family (specifically the type of dishes I use in my home and my guidelines for purchasing dishware for your home) please start with THIS LINK.

Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts.

If you are interested in participating in the testing I do (and would like to send in some of your things for testing and reporting on this blog) please read THIS POST.

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

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama