Bear Italian Villa Paint Colors
In a year abounding with recalls and abominable or attenuated consumerproducts (toys, cribs, children's jewelry, pet food, seafood,toothpaste), the angle that dinnerware was somehow safe seemednaive. Historically, advance has been acclimated in dinnerware's paints andglazes -- and still is.
You ability acquisition that unsettling, because that the majority ofdinnerware that's awash in the U.S. is not fabricated in the U.S. Abundant ofthe accustomed dinnerware comes from China, which doesn't accept a goodtrack almanac with advance acrylic these days. And if that isn't enoughcause for concern, the aliment are afire this division in dishessporting ablaze reds, oranges and yellows. Those big colors areoften apocalyptic of advance or cadmium, accession potentially toxicmetallic actinic element.
So we set off to acquisition outexactly how abundant advance or cadmium is present in a sampling of nearlytwo dozen plates, bowls, mugs and confined pieces purchased from 10major retailers -- Target, Wal-Mart, Pier 1 Imports, Crate andBarrel, Williams-Sonoma and Macy's, amid them.
The basal line: The bright dinnerware you bought at yourfavorite accumulation merchant aftermost anniversary ability accept advance in it, all right.But it's not acceptable to bleed abundant into your aliment or alcohol to hurtyou.
During our shopping/sampling spree, we focused on basin ceramics thatis beneath adored than porcelain, because ceramics (inparticular) can be accursed at low temperatures. Generally speaking,that agency added factories and small-scale operations could produceearthenware almost easily. And in some countries, that couldspell affection ascendancy issues.
We focused on bright pieces and decidedly the reds, orangesand yellows -- again, because they're added acceptable to accommodate leadand cadmium.
We focused on items fabricated in China, although we bought dinnerwaremade in Italy, Portugal, Mexico, Japan, Tunisia and Thailand aswell.
And we focused on boilerplate retailers and did not attending at thesmaller shops in indigenous neighborhoods. If toys attenuated withexcessive amounts of advance could appear from Mattel and be inmainstream toy aliment all over the country, could the aforementioned slip-upsbefall accumulation merchants of dinnerware?
In total, we brought 21 pieces to a bounded lab for a advance andcadmium leaching test, which is the analysis accustomed by the U.S.Food and Drug Administration.
And aback all was said and done, none of the items we activated leachedsignificant amounts of either metal. In fact, all of the dinnerwaretested far beneath the advance and cadmium leachable absolute set by theFDA -- a absolute that has been anchored alert aback 1970 aback thesestandards were aboriginal set.
Passing standards
All but one of the 21 pieces we activated additionally anesthetized California'smore accurate leachable banned set (in 1993) by Proposition 65,which has bargain the altruism for leachable advance and cadmium indinnerware to alike abate amounts.
Still, that one red basin that we activated that did not accommodated the Prop65 accepted for leachable advance could be awash in California stores,but with a admonishing sign.
The FDA has been "hammering on these bodies [the dinnerwareindustry] for a continued time," says Richard Goldblatt, lab administrator atChicago Spectro Service Laboratory on the southwest ancillary of thecity. (It consistently tests dinnerware for importers and retailers ofthe artefact and ran the leaching tests for the articles we broughtin.) Dinnerware-makers and importers, he continues, "got apreemptive bang 20 or 25 years ago."
That's aback this industry had a moment of shame.
In 1986 and 1987, some 20,000 pieces of ceramics from Spain andItaly were recalled from admirable aliment (including Pier 1 Importsand Williams-Sonoma) because they leached boundless amounts oflead.
And the FDA itself was criticized not alone for acceptance theseproducts to acquisition their way assimilate abundance shelves but for advancement astandard that some bodies argued was contradictory. Lead-poisoningvictims, associates of the medical affiliation and added advocates forlower advance banned argued that the FDA accepted accustomed too muchleachable advance in dinnerware and that with approved use, dinnerwarethat aloof almost anesthetized FDA banned could be awful toxic, spiking auser's aliment or alcohol with again doses of lead.
These days, says Goldblatt, it's "much rarer than it was 20 yearsago" for his lab to about-face up baneful tableware, which was redefined bythe FDA with stricter standards afterward the episodes in themid-1980s.
'Safer today than ever'
So, should consumers feel acceptable about the accompaniment of dinnerware onstore shelves today?
Dr. Mark Mycyk, medical administrator of analytic toxicology andtoxicological analysis with Northwestern University Feinberg Schoolof Medicine, thinks so.
"If bodies are application dinnerware that has a advance agreeable aural FDAsafe limits, they will be fine," says Mycyk, acquainted that the singlebiggest reducer of Americans' acknowledgment to advance was the phasingout/banning of leaded gasoline, a decades-long action that startedin the 1970s.
"The bodies who are accepting ailing from advance in 2007 are bodies whoare alive in advance industries or kids bistro acrylic chips or dirtaround the house. Poisoning from dinnerware is exceptionallyuncommon."
And Richard Jacobs, a baneful aspect specialist with the FDA in SanFrancisco, which begin abounding of the historically problematicdinnerware from all over the world, says, "Absolutely." Dinnerwarein U.S. aliment is "safer today than it's anytime been," Jacobssays.
Cautionary tale
He offers a brace of caveats, though.
"Many of the Chinese acceptable articles [with adorned traditionalpatterns such as "red continued life"] are still a botheration today [forlead], and consumers should be acquainted that they are out there andshould be avoided," Jacobs says.
Chinese acceptable articles generally are begin in baby shops in ethnicneighborhoods or on the Internet, says Jacobs, and generally arebrought into U.S. mislabeled as "housewares" or are aboriginal shippedto Singapore and again to the U.S. to abstain FDA scrutiny.
"The added things that angle out are the adobe items fromMexico and Central and South America," says Jacobs, acquainted thatthey, too, could bleed aerial amounts of lead. Again, they could befound in baby indigenous aliment that ability not accept the assets todo testing, or on the Internet.
"It's not the Talavera being with the accomplished ceramics that is fabricated forexport," Jacobs says. "It's the village-made being [terra cotta]that is asperous and absorptive and has a actual archaic appearance."
Again, these alarming adobe pieces could acquisition their wayinto the U.S. labeled as adorning items, which ability not getconveyed to the consumer, Jacobs says.
Memo of Understanding
Still, Jacobs believes that the aggregate of dinnerware awash in the U.S.today is safe aback it comes to leaching advance and cadmium. And heattributes that to two developments over the aftermost 15 years: keendealings with the Chinese artificial years ago and California'sloved-and-hated Prop 65.
After an beginning of problems with those (still problematic)hand-painted acceptable articles from China in the mid-1990s (wellbefore China was the assertive of accomplishment that it is today),the FDA and a authoritative anatomy aural the Chinese government workedout a academic acceding (called a Memorandum of Understanding) tocertify Chinese factories. To get on the FDA's coveted account ofcertified factories, a ceramics-maker "must prove that they canmake their articles satisfactorily, to FDA standards," Jacobssays.
To accommodated those standards, abounding Chinese factories accept eliminatedhand-painted basin articles (at atomic for the consign market) andhave developed added avant-garde accomplishment techniques such as printeddecals.
But "the absolute able affair is that we fabricated the account of certifiedfactories accessible to U.S. retailers," Jacobs says. "Most all ofthe bodies [retailers, importers] that I accept talked to in thiscountry buy from that account of certified factories."
Any breach and a certified branch goes into FDA apprehension --and a circuitous action of regaining its certified status. Shipmentsfrom factories on apprehension are inspected added rigorously.(Shipments from non-certified factories are not banned from theU.S., but additionally are subjected to added accurate inspections.)Currently, added than 600 Chinese factories are certified.
And again there's Prop 65. In effect, it has bargain the leachablelimits for advance and cadmium in dinnerware not aloof in Californiabut beyond the country (save for cadmium in plates; its absolute ishigher than that accustomed by the FDA), according to Jacobs. Largeretailers and importers appetite to be able to advertise their articles inCalifornia aliment -- and none of them appetite advance admonishing signsemblazoning their dinnerware, which is appropriate if a artefact doesnot canyon Prop 65 limits.
Why any advance at all?
Still, neither Jacobs at the FDA nor Goldblatt at Chicago Spectrodenies that advance and cadmium are still acclimated in dinnerwaretoday.
Cadmium is a carcinogen. Advance can account neuro-cognitive problems inchildren and abiding advance acknowledgment in adults can aftereffect inhypertension and renal disease, Mycyk says. So, why should any leador cadmium be accustomed in our bistro and bubbler vessels?
They're there "for the backbone of the colors," explains AndrewBopp, administrator of accessible diplomacy for the Ohio-based Society ofGlass and Basin Decorators, a barter affiliation representingcompanies that adorn bottle and basin items and primarilydinnerware.
Many ceramics manufacturers and artisans accept chock-full usinglead-based glazes, which is the agleam solid blanket on dinnerware,Bopp says. They accept been able to accomplish a ample spectrum ofcolors afterwards the accession of lead.
But to get assertive colors in a arrangement or adornment that's printedor hand-painted (and again fired) aloft the glaze, advance and cadmiumare necessary, Bopp says. Afterwards them, the blush in the decal orpattern would scrape off with circadian chafe or achromatize in thedishwasher.
If basin ceramics has been accursed correctly, the advance and cadmium thatmight be in a coat or adornment will abide abiding and not leachinto a aliment or drink. (Along with under-firing, the accession ofcertain added substances to a advance coat can accomplish the advance morelikely to leach. Copper is one of those substances.)
"The key is not what's there [in the dinnerware], but what comesout of the plate" or basin or mug or pitcher, says Jacobs.
- - -
What we activated -- and how
Here's what we tested. "Pass" agency the allotment is safe as far asleachable advance and cadmium are concerned. These items activated belowthe leachable banned set by the FDA and by the added accurate Prop65 in California.
-- Karen Klages
Turquoise rice bowl. Fabricated in Japan, $8.95 at Sur La Table.Passed.
HomeTrends cast Serene/Natural Serenity olive/black mug. Fabricated inChina, $2.37 at Wal-Mart. Passed.
Thomas O'Brien's Vintage Avant-garde dejected ceramics mug. Fabricated in China,$7.99 for set of two mugs at Target. Passed.
Joseph Abboud's Ventana Rust bloom plate. Fabricated in China, $10, onsale for $7.99, at Bloomingdale's. Passed.
Tabletops Lifestyles' Celebration bloom plate. Fabricated in China, $11,on auction for $9.10, at Macy's. Passed.
Magnolia Dessert Bowl. (No country of agent on back), $16, on salefor $12.80, at Macy's. Passed.
Sanctuary ceramics bowl. Fabricated in China, $5 at Pier 1 Imports.Passed.
Joseph Abboud's Crisscross Brown aboveboard banquet plate. Fabricated inChina, $12, on auction for $2.99, at Bloomingdale's. Passed.
Kona mug. Fabricated in Thailand, $6.95 at Crate and Barrel. Passed.
Small (6 1/2 inches) busy basin plate. Fabricated in Mexico, $9.95at Sur La Table. Passed.
Urban Dot hand-painted ceramics plate. Fabricated in China, $8 at Pier1Imports. Passed.
Tuscan Landscape baby dipping bowl. Fabricated in Portugal, $29 for setof four at Williams-Sonoma. Passed.
HomeTrends cast Italian Villa banquet plate. Fabricated in China, $2.57at Wal-Mart. Passed.
Laurie Gates' Bloom platter. Fabricated in China, $26.95 at Crate andBarrel. Passed.
Autumn Harvest ceramics bowls. Fabricated in China, $59 for set offour at Williams-Sonoma. Passed.
Thira mahogany-colored ceramics banquet plate. Fabricated in China,$19.99 for set of four at Target. Passed.
Laurie Gates' Red Soleil mug. (No country of agent on back), $7,on auction for $5.25, at Macy's. Passed.
Small red bowl. Fabricated in Italy, $4.99 at Marshall's. Anesthetized FDAstandards; exceeded California's Prop 65 absolute for leachable lead(in California, it would accept to backpack a admonishing assurance that itexposes users to lead.)
Golden Harvest aboveboard plate. Fabricated in China, $2.99 at Marshall's.Passed.
Black-and-white bloom plate. Fabricated in Tunisia, $9.95 at Sur LaTable. Passed.
Martha Stewart Accustomed ebony-colored banquet plate. Fabricated in China,$15.99 for set of four at Kmart. Passed.
How we had dinnerware tested
We brought 21 pieces of dinnerware purchased at popularChicago-area aliment to Chicago Spectro Service Laboratory on theSouthwest Ancillary of the burghal for a advance and cadmium leaching analysis --and all activated able-bodied beneath the FDA leaching limits.
One of those 21 pieces did not accommodated the acutely accurate standardfor leaching advance set by Proposition 65 in California. If awash inthat state, that one red basin would accept to buck a admonishing assurance forlead.
Pieces were abounding with or absorbed in 4 percent acerb acerbic atroom temperature for 24 hours afterwards which the acerbic was activated forthe bulk of advance and cadmium that leached out of the basin orbowl or mug. The analysis is meant to actor a bearings area someoneleaves orange abstract or wine or a vinaigrette in a basin or cup for aday and again drinks or eats it, says Chicago Spectro lab directorRichard Goldblatt
-- Karen Klages
Lead standards for dinnerware
To canyon today's FDA standard, baby holloware (dishes and bowlswith a accommodation of beneath than 1.1 liters -- or 1.166 quarts -- and adepth of 1 inch or greater) can bleed no added than 2 genitalia permillion of advance and 0.5 genitalia per actor of cadmium. Largeholloware pieces (with a accommodation of 1.1 liter -- or 1.166 quarts-- or more) can bleed no added than 1 allotment per actor of advance and0.25 genitalia per actor of cadmium. Flatware (plates) can bleed nomore than 3 genitalia per actor of advance and 0.5 genitalia per actor ofcadmium. The FDA leachable advance absolute for cups, mugs, tumblers andpitchers is 0.5 genitalia per million.
California has added accurate leachable banned (set in 1993 byProposition 65), which has bargain the altruism for leachable leadand cadmium in dinnerware to alike abate amounts -- 0.10 genitalia permillion of leaching advance for baby and ample holloware pieces aswell as cups, mugs and pitchers. For plates, the leachable leadlimit is 0.226 genitalia per million. The leachable absolute for cadmiumis 1.85 genitalia per actor for flatware (plates); 0.188 genitalia permillion for baby holloware and 0.049 genitalia per actor for largeholloware pieces.
-- K.K.
- - -
Travelers beware
The absolute crisis airish by dinnerware today is articles bodies buy intheir campaign in adopted countries, such as China or Mexico or evenItaly, says Richard Jacobs, a baneful aspect specialist with the FDAin San Francisco. These articles may not accept been meant for theexport bazaar and may accommodate boundless amounts of leachable leadand/or cadmium.
Dinnerware fabricated pre-1970 (before the FDA accustomed leachablelimits) is additionally suspect. That agency dinnerware of alien vintagefound at flea markets, antiques aliment and on the Internet. Don'tuse it everyday, Jacobs says. Don't put acerb foods or liquids init. And get yourself a home advance analysis kit (LeadCheck Swab is onebrand) begin at accouterments and home-center stores, Jacobs says.
Chinese acceptable articles and primitive-looking terra cotta fromMexico, Central and South America could be problematic. Thesepieces generally are begin in baby aliment in indigenous neighborhoods andon the Internet.
And finally, dinnerware items bought from artisans at ability showsshould be scrutinized. Ask the artisan if he uses advance in hisglazes or paints and/or analysis it yourself with a home advance testkit.
If consumers accept apropos about new dinnerware (and/or findleachable amounts of advance from a home test) alarm the FDA's ConsumerComplaint Coordinators for Illinois at 312-353-7840 or visithttp://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html.>-- Karen Klages ---------- kklages@tribune.com
