Please stop using vintage Pyrex glassware for cooking & serving food – it’s often painted with high-Lead paint & can test positive for Cadmium & Arsenic, too.

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Please watch this ten minute video first:

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Here’s a short (2 min 55 second) follow up video too:

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Here’s the general introduction I provide on a lot of my posts, for those who may be new to (or have possibly “stumbled upon”) my work – while just casually browsing, or conducting more serious research:

Tamara Rubin is an internationally recognized, Federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and childhood Lead-poisoning prevention. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009, and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. She uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for metallic toxicants (including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic). All test results reported here on LeadSafeMama.com are science-based, accurate and replicable. To read more about the testing methodology employed for the test results reported on this blog, please click this link.

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First:
Does vintage Pyrex really have Lead?
Do new Pyrex kitchen items have Lead?
Is vintage Pyrex painted with Lead paint?
I heard that Snopes said this is not true….

• Please start by watching each of the YouTube videos above as they discuss the issues with the FALSE Snopes article in detail. After you watch the videos read the rest of this post for more information.
• If you want a full history and lots of detail about my interactions with Snopes over the years (including videos of me asking the founder of Snopes to retract the FALSE article) click here.
• Why is this a problem if the Lead paint is only on the outside of the dishes? Click this link to read that answer.
• How to respond when your elders say “Well we survived this so it must be fine…” (click here)
• For my point-by-point (relatively snarky) takedown of the December 2016 article from Snopes, click here.
• If you have not yet seen this report on how Snopes often writes articles (including using plagiarism) only to capitalize on viral traffic from others’ websites – as a strategy to drive traffic to their site – click here.
• Read this post for more information about how much Lead it takes to poison a human being.

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Want to make a difference? Write to Snopes!

After reading this full post and watching the above videos, if you want to write Snopes and ask them to retract the 2016 article because it is false, misleading and potentially creating harmful outcomes for families… try the emails below (please also request that they print a retraction for all of their false, misleading and misogynistic statements in their 2019 article about my work). If you find another appropriate e-mail address, please post that in the comments below. Thank you!:

• Dan.Macguill@snopes.com
• Dan@Snopes.com
• Dan.MacGuill@teamsnopes.com
• alex.kasprak@protonmail.com
• alex.kasprak@gmail.com
• Or use the contact form on their website!

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The numbered list below is the “meat” of this post…

1. Did you know that Vintage Pyrex has unsafe levels of Lead in the paint on the outside? This has been confirmed with reactive agent home test kits, with XRF test kits and with laboratory testing using the dust wipe sampling methodology.
2. Did you know that scientists have confirmed there is potential significant risk to human health with Lead-painted glassware? [2017 Study from Plymouth, England.] LINK
3. Did you know that the paint on the outside of your vintage Pyrex can wear off into your cooking environment?
4. Have you ever held your vintage Pyrex up to the light to see how much of the paint has worn off? [If not, watch the second video above.]
5. Did you know that it literally only takes a microscopic amount of Lead to poison a child? [Microscopic = invisible = you cannot notice it with the naked eye.] So if you can SEE areas where an amount of potentially high-Lead paint has worn off of your vintage Pyrex dishes, that is a very serious concern — as the paint that has worn off may have worn off into your cooking environment.
6. Did you know that Pyrex uses the CORPORATE PARTY LINE when asked about this: ‘We’ve always followed all regulations at the time of manufacture”? Nice try, Slick — but there in fact WERE NO relevant regulations that were protective of human health at the time when this company mass-manufactured those Lead-painted items!
7. Government agencies (internationally) agree that no level of Lead exposure is safe for humans. 
8. For context: toys and other consumer goods are considered unsafe (and illegal) to be sold for use by children if the Lead levels are 90 ppm or higher in the paint, glaze or coating.
9.  Most vintage Pyrex pieces are indeed coated with high Lead-paint (many in the range of 50,000 to 200,000 ppm Lead and some testing positive for Lead at levels up to 5,000 times more Lead than the threshold of what would be considered illegal for sale today in items intended for use by children).
10. Vintage Pyrex items also often have high levels of CADMIUM, and ARSENIC in the paint.
11. Vintage Pyrex items also normally test positive for Lead in the white milk glass substrate.
12. In most cases the paint WILL even test positive with a reactive agent home test [but don’t waste your money on the home test kits – you could buy a new set of Lead-free mixing bowls for less than the price of the test kits!* — you can look up many of the colors of paint and patterns and styles we’ve already tested on our website (for free).]
13. The white milk glass substrate of vintage Pyrex items is also often positive for high levels of Lead — but that will NOT test positive with a reactive agent home test kit — because those kits (this type – link) were NOT designed for testing glass – they were only designed for testing HOUSE PAINT.
14. Recent federal and international (Unicef) reports have confirmed that (depending on which Blood Lead Level you use as a point of reference) either 1 in 3 children or 1 in 2 children have had an unsafe level of Lead in their blood in their lifetime.
15. Given the impact of Lead exposure is cumulative (in my documentary film on the subject, Dr. Bruce Lanphear states that 90% of the Lead you have ever been exposed to is likely still in your body), as parents it is our duty to try to eliminate any known possible sources of Lead exposure from our children’s lives (from their homes, schools and playground) if we can.
16. My children have permanent brain damage and other disabilities – from being Lead-poisoned as babies; the goal of sharing this information with you (information about Lead in consumer goods) is to help you protect your babies, so they don’t have the same challenges my children have as a result of their Lead exposure. Being a parent of disabled children is not fun, and is not something I would wish on anyone!
17. In the sprit of “first do no harm” – PLEASE stop using vintage Pyrex for functional food-use purposes (cooking food, serving food, storing food) until someone (anyone – the Pyrex company? a university study?) clearly demonstrates that these vintage products are safe for food use purposes (HINT: no-one will be able to demonstrate that these vintage Pyrex pieces are safe because these products are not safe. No-one will undertake a study to try to prove their safety either as no one (no company or agency) will benefit financially from a study like this.)
18. MOST IMPORTANT POINT OF THIS POST: Non-toxic, safer replacement items are inexpensive, and easy to find. There’s no reason to use Lead painted cookware in 2021 – we know better. #KnowBetterDoBetter
19. Check out my websites: www.LeadSafeMama.com or www.ShopLeadSafeMama.com for safer choices and general guidelines in choosing safer cookware (so you can know what to look for no matter where you choose to buy it!)
20. REMINDER: Watch the two short videos embedded at the top this page, too – they are a quick summary of the issue. I just recorded and posted these on YouTube in November 2021.
21. #DitchThePyrex (& Watch the two videos above) #VintagePyrex
22. If you want to keep your vintage Pyrex items for decorative purposes, please store them in a locked, sealed cabinet (behind glass?) – as the paint can easily chalk, and create house dust with hazardous levels of Lead (wherever they may be stored for display).

Click any of the keywords at the top of this post to see more posts tagged with that keyword category.

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Some additional reading that may be of interest:

• The Pyrex category of posts on this website
• The Pyrex Measuring Cups category of posts on this website
• The Pyrex Mixing Bowls category of posts on this website
• The Pyrex Casseroles category of posts on this website
• The Red Pyrex category of posts on this website
• The Vintage Pyrex Refrigerator Dish category of posts on this website
• Safer choices for mixing bowls
• Safer choices for refrigerator dishes
• Safer choices for casserole dishes

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

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