# How Much is Too Much Lead?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-too-much-lead/266790>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 30, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-too-much-lead/266790 "2004-09-30T03:35:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zoesdare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@zoesdare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoesdare)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-too-much-lead/266790/1 "2004-09-30T03:35:04Z")

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I inherited a set of leaded crystal glasses from my grandmother a while back, and have been doing furious internet research on whether or not they are safe to drink from.

I haven’t turned up much. The best I can find is that you shouldn’t drink from them every day, and that vitamin C and Calcium help to counteract lead poisoning.

I also am having trouble finding out what the stickers on them mean. They each have one that says, “More than 24% PBo.”

I assume PB stands for lead, past that I’m lost. It would be so much more comforting for someone to just say how much lead is dangerous.

Anyone have any answers?

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**Author:** ![gregongie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@gregongie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregongie)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-too-much-lead/266790/2 "2004-09-30T05:06:23Z")

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I can tell you more than 24% PbO means more than 24% lead oxide by weight. Lead crystal is typically postassium silicate glass doped with a certain amount of lead oxide, in this case, more than 24%.

After some googling, I came up with the following from the Harvard Health Letter, April 1991, investigating the storage of alcohol in lead crystal containers:

> [@](#):
>
> They found that lead began entering the liquid within minutes after being poured. Fortunately, the lead content of wine in a crystal glass usually goes up relatively little in the first half hour. During this interval, lead in wine from Irish and French crystal glasses did not exceed 50 micrograms per liter, which is the Environmental Protection Agency’s current upper limit for drinking water. (The agency is in the process of lowering this level to 20 micrograms or less, however.) A set of Yugoslavian crystal glasses released lead more rapidly, exceeding present EPA limits within about ten minutes. Prolonged storage in a decanter was another story: after five or more years, lead levels in brandy had reached 8,000-22,000 micrograms per liter.
> 
> Rest of the article:  
> [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi\_m1585/is\_n6\_v16/ai\_10600032](http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1585/is_n6_v16/ai_10600032)

So it seems you’ll okay if you’re not storing alcohol in the crystal and if you don’t drink from them regularly. Though, it’s probably best if pregnant women and children don’t drink from them at all. You can read more about precautions at wikipedia ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead#Precautions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead#Precautions)) and a government website ([http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/phs8817.html#bookmark05](http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/phs8817.html#bookmark05)).

I should note that I’m fairly confident all of this is true, but I’m no doctor–just a glass researcher. I hope someone more qualified doper can give you a second opinion.