Berenstain Bears 1987 Princess House Mug: 22,000 ppm Lead. 90 ppm (& up) is unsafe for kids. Kids don't use mugs, right?

How much Lead is “too much” Lead?
…including some “Fun Facts”:

Newly-manufactured items (made today) are considered unsafe for children to use if they are finished with any paint or coating that is 90 ppm Lead or higher.
Substrates that test positive for 100 ppm Lead (or higher) are considered unsafe for children.
There is currently no regulatory standard setting limits for Lead in paint on modern consumer goods intended for use by adults.
Mugs are generally not considered to be “items intended fr use by children” and, as such, new mugs manufactured today may still be made with high-Lead decorative coating.
When Lead-based paint was banned in 1978, the requirement was that paint for residential use applications only (paint for houses, applied in areas that could be reached by children) must henceforth contain less than 600 ppm Lead.
The allowable level of Lead in house paint was subsequently lowered, and today modern house paint must also be below 90 ppm Lead [and most house paints now usually test completely negative for Lead].
Federal funds are currently allocated for interventions in pre-1978 housing (for low income families) when the paint is positive for Lead at a level of one milligram per square centimeter [this is roughly equivalent to a high-precision XRF instrument reading of 5,000 ppm Lead].
The mug pictured here has Lead paint with levels of Lead that far exceed (exceed by more than 300 %) the standards above under which the feds would consider it unsafe in housing (if it were house paint – and not paint on a mug.)
Because it is a mug, and because mugs are not intended for use by kids, and because it was made in 1987 – it is considered perfectly legal and safe.

The question that comes up for me, taking into account everything noted above: Do you still think you should drink from a mug like this?

Exact full XRF test results for the mug pictured here.

With XRF focused on the green grass

Lead (Pb): 22,000 +/- 700 ppm
Barium (Ba): 1,750 +/- 111 ppm
Chromium (Cr): 4,229 +/- 424 ppm
Antimony (Sb): 484 +/- 37 ppm
Zirconium (Zr): 16,900 +/- 600 ppm
Platinum (Pt): 664 +/- 144 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 10,700 +/- 400 ppm
Copper (Cu): 220 +/- 52 ppm
Cobalt (Co): 1,556 +/- 169 ppm
Iron (Fe): 2,583 +/- 261 ppm
Titanium (Ti): 833 +/- 256 ppm

With XRF focused on the brown tree stumps

Lead (Pb): 14,700 +/- 500 ppm
Cadmium (Cd): 52 +/- 11
Barium (Ba): 1,820 +/- 111 ppm
Chromium (Cr): 5,540 +/- 497 ppm
Zirconium (Zr): 18,900 +/- 600 ppm
Platinum (Pt): 450 +/- 133 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 14,100 +/- 500 ppm
Copper (Cu): 287 +/- 55 ppm
Cobalt (Co): 483 +/- 137 ppm
Iron (Fe): 5,696 +/- 379 ppm
Vanadium (V): 3,743 +/- 382 ppm
Titanium (Ti): 2,430 +/- 378 ppm

With XRF focused on the red shirt

Lead (Pb): 8,131 +/- 270 ppm
Cadmium (Cd): 1,294 +/- 64
Barium (Ba): 1,626 +/- 100 ppm
Chromium (Cr): 679 +/- 242 ppm
Selenium (Se): 312 +/- 42 ppm
Zirconium (Zr): 18,200 +/- 600 ppm
Platinum (Pt): 424 +/- 113 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 10,500 +/- 300 ppm
Copper (Cu): 301 +/- 55 ppm
Iron (Fe): 1,384 +/- 214 ppm
Vanadium (V): 828 +/- 215 ppm
Titanium (Ti): 1,642 +/- 347 ppm

With XRF on the plain white (undecorated) surface of the mug

Barium (Ba): 1,969 +/- 114 ppm
Zirconium (Zr): 23,800 +/- 800 ppm
Platinum (Pt): 353 +/- 102 ppm
Zinc (Zn): 13,600 +/- 400 ppm
Copper (Cu): 482 +/- 64 ppm
Iron (Fe): 1,144 +/- 211 ppm
Vanadium (V): 2,256 +/- 323 ppm
Titanium (Ti): 4,636 +/- 544 ppm

Some additional reading for those interested in this post:

As always, thank you for reading and for sharing my posts. 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.

Tamara Rubin

#LeadSafeMama