Full Lead Crystal Decanter?

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I recently looked this up on Wikipedia, and while I do understand that Wiki is not an "official" source of info, it does tend to be fairly accurate.

Thus I was concerned when I saw the number of posts about how lead crystal is harmless. The article on Wiki clearly indicated that after a relatively short amount of time most liquids (notably alcohol and fruit juice) would pick up levels of lead contamination well in excess of anything allowable in a commercial product.

Is it enough to make it lethal, or even unsafe? I don't know, as I did not research that far, but it was enough to make me never, ever buy lead crystal, even to have it on display.

But then, I am paranoid about food safety:)
 
I want to put rum in it. You would think stores could not sell it if it would make you sick.

Well, you'd think. But here in CA, they just put Prop 65 Warning signs up on the shelves next to the suspect products--like they've done with all the balsamic vinegar.
 
lead in glass

while lead in glass is not safe, of even more concern is pottery that has used lead in their glazes. Especially low fire pots. Never use those pots to bake in and don't put acidic things in them to even serve. Notoriously the ceramic pots made in 3rd world countries, while beautiful, are frequently put in kilns that fire at low temperatures. they get beautiful colors but the glazes are not inert. Use them decoratively but not for cooking. Lead glazes are usually very colorful.
 
As a kid I lived in Germany, and all of our glasses were lead crystal. We're still alive and kicking. I will say I'm more careful of ceramic wear that is painted. But when I needed to replace my wine glasses, I went with regular lead crystal. It is stronger and flat out prettier. I think that children are more susceptible to lead poisoning than adults. But I agree with those who say we have a lot of unnecessary panic attacks when it comes to this stuff. I'm 52, and if everything they now say are dangerous, I should have died long ago. Asbestos. Lead paint. Unsafe cribs and play pens. No safety chairs in cars. Heck, no safety belts in cars. I could write a list of stuff we did that seemed every day then and now could have probably put my parents in jail for child abuse. Yes, even spankings.
 
I'm 52, and if everything they now say are dangerous, I should have died long ago. Asbestos. Lead paint. Unsafe cribs and play pens. No safety chairs in cars. Heck, no safety belts in cars.
There is a difference between something being dangerous and something that is going to kill you. You could very well be suffering from the affects of lead poison and not even realize it. Do you were glasses? If so, how do you know that the reason your eye sight is not what it should be is not because of damage because of lead poisoning?

Do you really think that people have "unnecessary panic attacks" about seat belts and child seats in cars? Do you really think asbestos is something to take so lightly that people should not be very concerned about it?

Just because you lived through a time when those things were not on the radar and people routinely drove without seat belts or used asbestos and you survived does not mean that they are safe.
 
To a certain degree I was being facetious. I would not put a child in my car without a proper (back seat) chair, and I always buckle up and insist that all of my passengers do as well (some of my older passengers object and I just don't drive until they do). As far as vision, I've been legally "blind" since birth (severe astigmatism)(correctable to 20/20), as was my mom and many before her. No, I don't think asbestos had anything to do with it, or lead. Yes, I have known children with lead poisoning, but they were ignored and literally did make meals out of boxes of open cereal that paint flecks from the walls and cabinets were in, and they did suffer from malnutrition as well. I remember one friend saying "that child cannot be suffering from malnutrition, he's fat." Well, guess what, you can get fat living on cheap donuts (these kids were living on boxes of sugary cereal). So, I'll back off on many of the things I said. But I do still think we have a "scare of the week" mentality. Something that was good for you last week will kill you this week and be good again for you next week.
 
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But I do still think we have a "scare of the week" mentality. Something that was good for you last week will kill you this week and be good again for you next week.
I do not disagree with that. I think there are many things that we get immature or incomplete information on and then the media jumps on it and tries to scare us to death. The next week they are saying the opposite. I just don't think there is any question about lead though which was the topic of this thread.
 

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