# Mexican bowls with lead-based paint. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877 "2010-12-30T22:14:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/1 "2010-12-30T22:14:59Z")
I have a set of four, decorative bowls from Mexico. They were purchased by my grandmother in about 1950 and they’re quite pretty. Problem - they are painted with lead based paint. I don’t use them for any type of food - they are decorative only. They are currently up at the top of a shelf just looking pretty. Question is this - assuming Junior cannot reach them or contact them in any way, is he nonetheless being exposed to an unacceptable level of lead? As in, does lead leach out of the paint into the air? I don’t WANT to get rid of them as they are quite pretty and they were from my grandmother who is now dead; however, I also don’t want to poison my infant son. Thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/2 "2010-12-30T22:17:51Z")
No, he’s fine, as long as the paint on the bowls is not flaking off or being abraded in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/3 "2010-12-30T22:37:27Z")
Plenty of lead in the air as it is, I believe, from all those years of leaded gas. EVERYBODY PANIC! ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/4 "2010-12-30T23:01:22Z")
Heh - ok the paint looks good - no flaking or chipping. I assume that if it’s intact after 60 years it’s probably intact? Or should I regularly inspect them? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/5 "2010-12-30T23:07:29Z")
The only reason there has been such an uproar about lead in paint was because kids were eating paint chips. Ingesting lead is a problem. Lead paint sitting on bowls sitting on a cabinet is not anything to worry about for even a second. The bowl could break and he could clean it up and be in no danger whatsoever (other than the danger of kids handling broken glass… heh). Don’t let your kid eat the bowls and he’ll be fine. He won’t get to them unless he climbs like a monkey, in which case I’d be more worried about him falling off the fridge than about him chipping off the paint and eating it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/6 "2010-12-30T23:16:10Z")
And it’s only a problem with the paint chips because lead paint is sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/7 "2010-12-31T01:33:36Z")
Are they painted or glazed with a lead based glaze? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/8 "2010-12-31T01:37:25Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Plenty of lead in the air as it is, I believe, from all those years of leaded gas. EVERYBODY PANIC! Not anymore. > [@](#): > > As a result of EPA’s regulatory efforts to remove lead from gasoline, emissions of lead from the transportation sector have dramatically declined (95 percent between 1980 and 1999), and levels of lead in the air have decreased by 94 percent between 1980 and 1999. From [here](http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/child/airq/lead.htm). ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/9 "2010-12-31T01:40:41Z")
> [@Bewildebeest](#): > > Are they painted or glazed with a lead based glaze? Humm - lead based glaze probably. It’s sort of sheer. ---
**Author:** ![wbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/439d5e/32.png) [@wbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wbeaty)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/10 "2010-12-31T06:25:57Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Humm - lead based glaze probably. It’s sort of sheer. Glaze is a type of glass. It doesn’t flake like paint. With fired pottery, the horror stories involve long-term storing acidic beverages and foods. The acid slowly attacks the glaze and some lead can leach out. If you had a pottery pitcher storing orange juice in your fridge, then you could get slow cumulative lead poisoning. Here’s a ref where they tested some cut glass booze decanters. They found that brand new leadglass “crystal” decanters would leach significant amounts of lead into acidic sherry over a 2-month period. But they also found that the amount of lead greatly decreased after repeated use, so “aged” decanters were no longer a problem. If the lead-based pottery glaze behaves like glass, then probably your bowls are no big kitchen issue unless they were in daily use. [Food Safety 1995: leached lead from glazed pottery, lead crystal decanters](http://books.google.com/books?id=sslUPhiE5C8C&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294#v=onepage&q&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/11 "2010-12-31T22:55:34Z")
> [@wbeaty](#): > > Glaze is a type of glass. It doesn’t flake like paint. > > With fired pottery, the horror stories involve long-term storing acidic beverages and foods. The acid slowly attacks the glaze and some lead can leach out. If you had a pottery pitcher storing orange juice in your fridge, then you could get slow cumulative lead poisoning. > > Here’s a ref where they tested some cut glass booze decanters. They found that brand new leadglass “crystal” decanters would leach significant amounts of lead into acidic sherry over a 2-month period. But they also found that the amount of lead greatly decreased after repeated use, so “aged” decanters were no longer a problem. If the lead-based pottery glaze behaves like glass, then probably your bowls are no big kitchen issue unless they were in daily use. > > [Food Safety 1995: leached lead from glazed pottery, lead crystal decanters](http://books.google.com/books?id=sslUPhiE5C8C&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294#v=onepage&q&f=false) Thank you - this is a very informative post! I will continue to keep my bowls up out of the way, but my mind is at ease about having them in the house. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/12 "2010-12-31T23:40:34Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Thank you - this is a very informative post! > > I will continue to keep my bowls up out of the way, but my mind is at ease about having them in the house. 🙂 It’s sort of like your asbestos oven mitt or the asbestos mastic under your old tiles: as long as it’s not friable, you’re fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-bowls-with-lead-based-paint/565877/13 "2011-01-01T12:28:12Z")
There was an article about this in _Reader’s Digest_ many years ago. They were being poisoned by the fruit juice pitcher they used every morning.