December 25, 2021 – Saturday
If you have not read this post yet, please do READ the full post (linked above and below) and let me know if you have any questions (after you have read the entire post. ;-))
PLEASE NOTE:
If this information were – in any way – “false” or “fake news” (as a few individuals have periodically stubbornly alleged), Corelle’s legal team would have demanded I retract it. This post has been up for two years now (since December of 2019) with no additional response from Corelle. It is not “false”, nor is it misleading; it is also not any sort of “fear-mongering”… It is science. It is factual advice, aimed at helping you protect your family from being unnecessarily exposed to Lead in your home – and especially in your kitchen / on your dining table.
Would you willingly choose to eat off of Lead-painted plates if you knew the painted decorations contained high amounts of Lead? Incredibly, today this is still the case with a lot of dishes, mugs, and other items — even from the most popular & “respected” brands! Considering that Lead is one of the most potent neurotoxiocants known to man, if you could easily identify which brands and items were scientifically tested and confirmed to contain high levels of Lead [and/or Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, or other neurotoxic heavy metals] I would wager that you would choose to buy safer alternatives! #KnowBetterDoBetter
You can buy replacement LEAD-FREE undecorated clear glass plates for $1 each at The Dollar Store (and elsewhere) — so there’s no reason not to buy replacement dishes if you have been using these older Leaded Corelle pieces. There are also lots of other examples of LEAD FREE (or at the very least, LEAD-SAFE) dishes on this website – so this is not in any way a “doom and gloom” / “everything I love has Lead” situation — it is rather an opportunity to learn, how to make a better-informed choice for your family. Thank you for reading.
I am very thankful to some moms on a baby and parenting message board from almost two decades ago who pointed me towards plain Corelle and also some Fiestaware as better choices for avoiding lead. I chose cream/ivory Corelle with no design, and as far as I can tell these dishes are good (I think that they only offer white now, though). I remember it being pretty inexpensive at Walmart although I have seen that prices have certainly gone up over the years. Plain white Corelle and the pretty embossed Corelle both look really good. I was browsing around and it also looks like they have a plain white set in square shapes that look modern/updated and still are the basic white material. With my ivory Corelle, I bought just a few accent/salad plates that have a purple and green glaze design. Perhaps I don’t want to know if these are OK or not, but they were bought maybe around 2000ish. I might send in a piece of our Lenox Federal Gold china set (1999-early 2000s) for testing. This is a basic white china with gold rim, pretty plain. I saw your review of Lenox Opal Innocence from around the same era and hope that my china from around the same time is at safe levels. A few years ago, we got some Fiestaware mugs for coffee – and thankfully I gravitated towards the blues and greens, which appear to be the safer choices. Your advice to ditch the Corelle mugs seems to be a good one. Mine were older, maybe the new ones are better?
I am particularly thankful for all your work because even though I know about lead, I was looking at some beautiful vintage china in a thrift store yesterday, and I love all the lovely patterned china. After reading your site, that’s a hard nope! And I will carefully consider ditching our infrequently used crystal glasses, trays and decorative items – I think all crystal is made with lead? There’s no way to make unleaded crystal?
It is good to hear that more of the newer plates are made better, and I am certain that your influence is making a difference. Well done! You have made a huge commitment to taking on this issue and you are doing a lot of good to inform people and protect children. Your and the family’s work on that lead crystal glass seriously poisoning a child is such an important discovery. Bravo.
Back to Corelle, pointing out the plain designs should be a good business for them. and I hope that Corelle does very well on their safest designs. I don’t see Corelle as bad guys at all. I am very pleased with our dishes and will recommend them to my children as well. There is a market for beautiful and non-toxic items.
Very best wishes to you, your family and your readers for the New Year!
hi Tamara,
I ordered dishes last year that your website suggested and now I no longer see them. all I can find is the corielle. I got one set that was clear and another set that was grey, both dinner dishes. I don’t remember the brand…but you used to have several choices…I’m hoping they aren’t on your website bc they aren’t available anymore and not bc you tested them again and the results were different….
thanks,
Karin Nance
What is the brand?
T
one set was Fortessa and one set was Duralex. I could send you the links if you like.
thanks.
Here are the two Fortessa articles: https://tamararubin.com/?s=fortessa
Note: just because I report on something on my website does not mean it is a brand I recommend. The test results on the website are there to help consumers make informed decisions however.
T