Lead Content in Pottery a Serious Health Threat : That Coffee Cup May Be a Pretty Poison

Do you drink your coffee from a favorite earthenware mug every day? Do you keep your orange juice in a rustic jug you picked up for a few pesos in Mexico?

If so, there may be more in your java or o.j. than you bargained for: lead.

There is evidence that lead poisoning from dinnerware didn’t end with the Roman emperors. In fact, some doctors and lead experts believe that consumers are buying and using ceramic dinnerware that is leaching lead at levels that pose a serious, even life-threatening, health hazard.

“It’s pandemic,” said Don Wallace, an industrial hygienist who nearly died from lead poisoning finally traced to pottery that he and his wife had bought in Italy. Wallace, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, got his master’s degree in industrial hygiene because of his experience and, at his own cost, has tested hundreds of suspect items.

“How many time bombs are sitting out there? . . . The number is manyfold more than the most liberal estimate that exists now,” he said.

Indeed, Wallace was responsible for alerting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to three items recalled within the last year because they were found to have lead levels exceeding the allowable federal standard.

In May, 1986, the FDA ordered the California mail-order retailer Williams-Sonoma to recall 16,000 earthenware Cazuela cooking pans made in Spain after some were found to have 95 times the amount of lead than is considered safe. Two months later, Williams-Sonoma also recalled 2,000 wine jugs from the same Spanish manufacturer after the FDA found that some released almost three times the amount of lead allowed.

6,000 Pitchers Recalled

In September and in October, 1986, Pier I Inc., with 350 stores nationwide, recalled 6,000 earthenware pitchers from Italy, some of which were releasing almost eight times the allowable lead, according to the FDA.

In all three recalls, the problem was caused by lead--regularly used in making colorful glazes--leaching from the surface because the foreign-made pottery was not fired at the high temperatures legally required in the United States.

The effects of lead poisoning are broad and can be long lasting: hypertension, heart and kidney damage, stroke, aggressiveness, depression and, in children, a lower IQ. What is worse, lead experts say, is that many doctors misdiagnose the symptoms of acute lead poisoning, which include anemia, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of wrist strength. Other subtle, longer-term effects--such as lowered IQ--can go undetected altogether.

“They will remove your appendix before they will test for lead poisoning,” said Dr. Richard P. Wedeen, associate chief of staff for research and development at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in East Orange, N.J., and an author of a history of lead poisoning. “I think we really don’t know how much lead poisoning exists in our society, and it’s hard to estimate how much is caused by (improperly fired) ceramics.”

According to the FDA, the problem is not with dinnerware made by reputable U.S. manufacturers but with pottery and some stoneware made in developing or poorer countries--most prominently Mexico and China--where firing temperatures are less stringently monitored. Pottery--unlike porcelain, bone china and most stoneware that must be fired at high temperatures--can be, if not monitored, fired at lower temperatures that allow the lead to break down and be discharged into food or liquids.

This process can be quickened when the improperly fired ceramic is exposed to acidic juices, vinegar or coffee, is put in the dishwasher or is scrubbed regularly. Unfortunately, to the naked eye, a piece of lethal pottery will look the same as one that has been fired at the right temperature.

FDA Lacks Manpower

With imports accounting for at least 60% of 1985 ceramic dinnerware sales in the United States, according to the U.S. Potters’ Assn., the FDA has stepped up efforts to spot-check foreign-made dinnerware for lead levels. But FDA officials admit that the agency does not have the manpower to test many of the incoming shipments.

“We’re talking about 20% (inspection) coverage in 1977 to less than 8% now,” said Richard Ronk, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety. “We’ve gone from 500,000 shipments of imports in 1977 to 1.8 million. And that says nothing about the size of the lots.”

The FDA--which, Ronk said, rejects about 6% of tested imported tableware--focuses much of its inspection efforts on those countries, such as Mexico and China, that have had a high number of past violations. The agency has also put importers in several countries on notice that they must ensure their wares conform to U.S. standards.

No FDA efforts, however, will prevent tourists from buying uninspected ceramics from little-known manufacturers when they are visiting other countries--the source of the problem for the Wallaces. Nor is there any way to tell whether a piece of pottery made before 1970, when allowable lead levels in ceramics were first set, will, if subjected to daily use, suddenly become lethal--as Patricia and James Apperson of Olympia, Wash., found out.

Mysterious Illness

The couple bought Patricia Apperson’s mother an attractive set of black-and-gold-rimmed tumblers and cocktail glasses from a well-known Portland, Ore., department store about 30 years ago, according to Apperson. For most of those years, the glasses were used only for special occasions and were always hand-washed. When Patricia Apperson’s mother went into a nursing home, the daughter took the glasses back to Olympia, where they were used every day for juices and washed in the dishwasher.

Last April, both began to have flu-like symptoms that their doctor repeatedly said was a virus. By August, their symptoms were critical: “Finally, I went to the hospital with severe abdominal pain,” Apperson said. “I was told that I had a perforated ulcer. Then they decided it was my gallbladder, and tests indicated I was anemic. They took out the gallbladder, because it was gangrenous.”

His wife was admitted with similar symptoms--including the anemia--and an alert hospital team had the Appersons’ blood tested for lead. His wife’s lead level was “critical,” said her husband. Because of blood transfusions in the gallbladder surgery, his level was less lethal. After treatment, both are said to have fully recovered.

Don and Fran Wallace had a similar experience with pottery they bought at a family-owned factory in southern Italy in 1975-76. Both were heavy coffee drinkers and used the cups daily. Moreover, Wallace said, he once a week gave the cups a good scrubbing to get rid of stains.

By January, 1981, Wallace, who had been transferred by the military several times (and had had his mugs in and out of storage), was suffering from severe back problems--diagnosed as a degenerative disc--and had had surgery on both wrists to relieve what was diagnosed as compression on the median nerves. He was also “down to a walking skeleton” and found himself irritable and aggressive, which had led, he said, to his decision to retire early from the Air Force and return to Seattle. His wife lay critically ill in the hospital, diagnosed earlier as having porphyria, a rare genetic disease that includes vomiting and severe abdominal pain.

Desperately trying to learn more about his wife’s condition, Wallace, who continued to sip coffee from his favorite mugs, began to do research and discovered that the symptoms of lead poisoning can be similar to those of porphyria. Despite initial skepticism from doctors, the couple had their blood tested for lead levels. Again, the levels were critical. “I was a walking dead man,” Wallace said.

The Wallaces are now passionate advocates of more stringent FDA standards on allowable lead levels or an outright ban of the use of lead in glazes--both suggestions the FDA will be considering, Ronk and other FDA officials said. Both are also suggestions likely to raise industry hackles.

“Making glazes without lead is like telling the Israelites to make bricks without straw,” said Dr. Robert J. Beals, research chairman of the U.S. Potters’ Assn. “People have been working for 100 years to come up with a substitute.”

“We have the poison-of-the-month club now. We resent totally that the problem of lead in ceramics is blown out of proportion,” said Werner T. Meyer, president of the Lead Industries Assn. “Let’s not make the nation paranoid.”

For those concerned about their dinnerware, government officials and lead-poisoning experts have this advice:

- If you have any questions about the safety of your ceramic tableware, new or old, stop using it immediately. Some commercial labs have the equipment to test dishes, but the cost can be high. The U.S. Potters’ Assn., 518 Market St., East Liverpool, Ohio 43920, has a list of 15 laboratories it has certified for lead testing.

- Do not buy dinnerware for daily use from little-known sources, especially if it is made in Mexico, China or other developing countries. Major manufacturers from most developed European countries and Japan and Korea are a better source.

- Avoid buying highly colored pottery for daily use. These often have a higher lead content.

- Avoid using the same coffee mug every day, and do not store juices in ceramic jugs. Do not keep salad with a vinegar dressing overnight in a ceramic dish. All have acids that can eat away at improperly fired glazes.

- If you suspect that you have lead poisoning, contact your doctor immediately.