>>> Lead poisoning from glassware was a true hazard but I believe it has been recognized and steps taken to avoid this. <<<
The problem has been recognized by some. However,
1. There is lots of old glassware around. Old meaning before this issue came up yet again around 6 years ago.
2. We have a long history of ignoring this kind of news. This issue has been coming up periodically for over a hundred years. The effects of lead poisoning in general have of course been know for centuries, especially in connection with mental retardation (in adults and children). However, nothing has really been done except to take out the lead from paint and gasoline relatively recently.
This is similar to cigarettes, where a connection to cancer and other health problems was suspected even in the 1600's, and where the first official publication by the British government and scientific establishment stating flatly that smoking causes cancer came out in the 1800s, to no great effect.
2. In these times, we let people make their own beds to lie in, without interference, particularly if money is involved. Few new regulations are accepted, and few new consumer protection laws written, in fact many consumer protection laws have been allowed to lapse over the last twenty years. So, the company cited here by so many as their favorite glassmaker has lines of leaded glasses that are explicitly called such.
3. If you put substantial lead in the glass, from what I know of inorganic chemistry, it is going to be pretty hard to keep it from coming out again, particularly as the acids in wine and juice will leach it out relatively quickly in significant amounts, because lead poisoning happens with only micrograms a day.
Folks will be better off with the very cheap glasses from the grocery store. If the glass is making the taste better, there is a reason for that. The cheap glass is very pure, with no expensive additives, and it doesn't break easily. Probably the lead is affecting the taste.
However, if one wants a prestige glass, unleaded expensive varieties are available. I would just caution that if the glass truly affects the taste of the wine in some way, that is probably due to some chemical process, and that means something other than SiO2 or other pure glass is involved.
Cheers,
Chaz |
