Do Lead Crystal Glasses Leach Lead?
Posted May 17th, 2008 by lat3356I always drink everything from water to wine from lead crystal glasses because they are pretty. I recently heard that lead can leach from these into the liquid and I am appalled that this could be true and have only been drinking from regular glass now until I can find out if it is true. Does anyone know how I can find out more information about this?
From Wikipedia:
Significant amounts of lead can migrate from lead crystal containers into beverages stored in them. In a study performed at North Carolina State University, the amount of lead migration was measured for port wine stored in lead crystal decanters. After two days, lead levels were 89 µg/L (micrograms per liter). After four months, lead levels were between 2,000 and 5,000 µg/L. White wine doubled its lead content within an hour of storage and tripled it within four hours. Some brandy stored in lead crystal for over five years had lead levels around 20,000 µg/L. To put this into perspective, EPA's lead standard for drinking water is 15 µg/L = 15ppb. Citrus juices and infant formula leach lead from crystal just as effectively as alcoholic beverages.
For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_crystal