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lead in mexican pottery

updated thu 14 sep 00

 

Wade Blocker on tue 12 sep 00


Dear Clayarters,
The following article appeared in todays ABQ Journal which I thought
might be of interest to all of you.
"Lead found in border food items, erasers, pottery also found toxic."

Packages of some Mexican food products sold in border stores contain
unhealthful levels of lead, according to a study by scientists in El Paso
and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The study found that some Mexican erasers popular with schoolchildren and
severeal samples of glazed clay pottery advertised as lead-free "sin plomo"
contained high levels of the toxic metal...Lead was detected in l9 of 42
ceramics tested ....."Salsa bowls purchased in Juarez tested at lead levels
nearly l,000 times the FDA limits.
Lead based ink turned up on the packaging of certain brands of soup,
pastas, rice and sugar. Inks containing high levels of lead were found in
22 of 55 bags from Mexico...some of the packaging with lead included candy
wrappers. Mia in ABQ