Signs Could Make Danger Crystal Clear : Consumers: A public interest lawsuit seeks to halt the sale of lead crystal without health warnings. But manufacturers say the warnings are unnecessary.

Afternoon at Tiffany’s and the shoppers step softly among the pedestals of dazzling glass. Elegant crystal goblets catch the light, beaming rainbows across the room.

Slowly, the eye is drawn to a sign:

“WARNING. USE OF LEADED CRYSTAL IS KNOWN BY THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS AND OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM.”

It could happen here, according to state Atty. Gen. Daniel E. Lungren who last month filed suit to force makers and sellers of fine crystal to warn buyers of possible lead exposure.

The suit--the first to address the hazards of lead under Proposition 65 of the state health code--could lead to the posting of warning signs wherever crystal decanters, stemware, mugs, bowls, and other items are sold.

The attorney general’s suit is one of several that have been brought against crystal makers since reports published in January said lead in crystal may be migrating into the liquids it holds.

San Francisco Bay Area attorney and bride-to-be Janet Mangini is suing Waterford Wedgwood to stop the sale of its pricey crystal baby bottles and decanters that don’t have warnings. Mangini, 38, soon will marry Michael Murphy, a wholesaler of organic produce. “And we don’t want any crystal wedding gifts, thank you.”

Attorneys for crystal makers here and abroad have argued that their products are safe and require no warnings. “This action is premature when no one truly understands what the risks are,” said Charles Ivie, attorney for Waterford and other crystal makers. “The industry is funding its own studies to evaluate health risks and is acting promptly and responsibly.”

But Alan Caplan, a San Francisco public interest lawyer who invited Mangini to join the suit, says it could be dangerous to wait.

Earlier this year, he fired the first salvo in the lead battle when he and Mangini notified the attorney general that they believed crystal makers and sellers were breaking the law. Proposition 65, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 1986, requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable” warnings if they expose the public to chemicals that can cause cancer or birth defects. Lead is among the 350 chemicals listed by the state that pose “significant risk.”

Proposition 65 encourages people to notify the attorney general when they believe “their government has failed to protect them from toxic chemicals,” said Caplan.

Under Proposition 65, restaurants are required to warn diners if use of tobacco or alcohol is permitted. At gas stations, signs caution motorists and passersby of toxic benzene fumes. Offenders can be charged up $2,500 a day for each violation.

“But the question facing us with lead exposure from crystal is how widespread a problem there is, and what constitutes exposure,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Edward G. Weil. “Is it drinking from crystal every day or only using a decanter in your home?”

Weil said the state’s Department of Health Services is working to create consistent lead-exposure standards that can be applied statewide. “We need to establish the science first,” said Weil. “To show a violation, we have to have specific brands and determine what constitutes a risk.”

Early this year, Columbia University toxicologist Joseph Graziano and physician Conrad Blum reported that high levels of lead accumulated in wine and spirits kept for long periods in crystal decanters and glasses.

Their limited tests, described in the British medical journal Lancet, showed that tiny amounts of lead migrated into wine from crystal in as few as 20 minutes. “Our results just flabbergasted everybody, including us,” said Graziano.

If a piece of glass--heavy or light, smooth or cut--bears the crystal label, it generally contains 16% to 32% lead oxide, industry spokesmen say. Classic, elegant, and often expensive, crystal derives its brilliance and clarity from lead’s natural sheen.

While there are no standard guidelines for safety in such glassware, there is a new sensitivity to the hazards posed by what were once considered insignificant traces of the metal in foods.

Blum and Graziano have not named the brands of crystal they used in their preliminary study. But among the dozens of crystal pieces they examined, they found that in one decanter, the natural lead level of port wine skyrocketed from 89 to 5,330 micrograms per liter after four months.

Two brandies that had been in crystal decanters for more than five years accumulated about 20,000 micrograms of lead per liter--levels as high as those found in the wines of ancient Rome, which were sweetened with lead.

Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new standards intended to dramatically reduce lead levels in the nation’s tap water. The maximum allowable level for lead in drinking water will drop from 50 to 5 micrograms per liter.

Lead can cause nerve damage, mental disorders and heart and kidney problems if regularly ingested in significant amounts. But lead poses special hazards for children and pregnant women, who can pass the lead on to the fetus. High levels of lead in children cause brain damage, lower IQ scores, coma, convulsions, cancer, even death.

Crystal baby bottles and the hazards they pose to infants who might drink from them were the subject of a recent study which seemed to show that apple juice and infant formula pulled lead out of crystal as effectively as alcohol.

As a result, researchers in both studies have called for a ban on sales of all crystal baby bottles and Waterford Wedgwood’s $100 crystal baby bottle has been dropped from the Anglo-Irish manufacturer’s price list.

“This bottle was never intended for feeding babies,” said Waterford attorney Ivie. “Out of an abundance of caution,” Ivie said, Waterford asked retailers to remove the bottles from shelves in March.

But Caplan said that since then, his staff had easily bought four of the bottles, which can be fitted with latex nipples. Caplan is charging Waterford Wedgwood with unfair business practice in continuing to sell “hazardous products.”

Most crystal retailers are awaiting instructions from the courts about how to proceed. Attorneys for Tiffany & Co. in New York, for example, said the company “would have no comment at this time.”

Mary Mumolo, senior manager of consumer relations for The Broadway of Southern California, said, “All the customer wants is to be made aware. We believe the public feels comfortable with an organization like ours that is not afraid to put up signs that are not only required, but educational as well.”

Researcher Blum said he was surprised to hear of California’s action, “but I wasn’t surprised it was California, since it is clearly the most environmentally conscious state in the nation.”

In Chicago, public health officials are weighing similar action.

Jerry Heckman, Washington, attorney for the French crystal manufacturers, said he was unaware of any similar actions by other states and certainly not in France. “I don’t think people are as crazy there.”

Times staff writer Gary Libman contributed to this story.