Getting The Toxic Lead out of Mexican Pottery

As most of you are probably aware Mexican Pottery has been well known to contain lead glazes. Well someone has stepped forward to put an end to this practice. This practice has been dangerous not only to those purchasing the pottery, but also to the potters and their families.Read the article to fin out the story.


Dr. Mike

By Ben Barber


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-barber/getting-toxic-lead-out-of_b_1553171.html

You sayin' my ashtrays are dangerous?
gm

Dr. Mike:

Interesting article but the entire matter is far more complex than what they are talking about on the surface. Just to discuss one example, lets take the City of Dolores Hidalgo. While the article states that these new glazes have eliminated the need to rebuild kilns at the cost of $10K, they still have to be cleaned up after years of firing lead glazes. There are approximately 1000 operating kilns in and around Dolores Hidalgo, so we are talking a major project. There is also the issue of having to cleanup the facilities either by removing contaminated soils or by sealing through the use of concrete or special paints.

The entire Arts & Crafts Industry in Mexico is really hurting due to the world economic situation and the fact that Mexican products are not currently in vogue NOB. The lead restrictions in place in the US are a hodgepodge of regulations that are constantly changing. On top of that, the State of California has their own set of regulations that are even more restrictive than those set by the Federal Government. It is a major investment for a Mexican pottery manufacturer to have there products tested and certified so that they can label them as being in compliance. We have one supplier in particular who jumped through all of the FDA hoops to be able to affix a lead free sticker on their products. These tests were not acceptable in California, so they wouldn't ship any form of dinnerware into the State. Less than two years later, the FDA changed the regulations and they would have had to return to square 1. Instead they have chosen to apply stickers designating the products as being for decorative purposes only. This has reduced the market for any of their dinnerware and they have experienced a drop in that product category of over 75%.

I have been told but don't have any solid proof that the clays found in certain areas of Mexico can often contain lead and the use of lead free glaze doesn't always protect the consumer from products made from these clays. Another thing to keep in mind when purchasing pottery in Mexico, is that the local regulations are quite loose and many products one might see in the marketplace do not adhere to accepted standards from the rest of the world.

After talking with a US potter several years ago, my understanding is that the leaded glazes are much more dangerous to the potter than to the public who buy the products. So little lead leaches out of the glaze when dishes, etc. are used that it really doesn't factor into the equation in any meaningful way--except for acidic foods, leaded pottery is safe for the general population.

A great deal is determined by the firing temp. For example the very common Michoacán red clay dinnerware is often fired at a low temp and is subject to lead leaching:
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Then again, most of us are at the age with plenty of guilty pleasures behind us that exposure to lead at this stage won't have dramatic effects on our health.

CheenaGringo,

My posting was not meant to be an in depth study of lead in pottery, it was simply an interesting article I found on the internet whose subject was getting the lead out of pottery and helping the health of the Potters and their families and those who purchase said pottery. Please, instead of writing an expose of how in depth we could go, simply take this article as a good news story, read it, take in whatever you want out of it and let it go.

Geez!

Dr. Mike

Who cares about lead in the pottery, we don't eat off of it unless you're downright stupid.

I am eyeballing the pretty pottery dishes that are in my rental and confirming my dislike of cooking and my preference to eat out a lot.....