When to Use China Drinking Glasses Company？

After tests discovered that millions of Americans' drinking water were contaminated with lead, infrastructure quickly became a hot topic while average Americans looked for new ways to prevent lead contamination. Unfortunately, though, your drinking water might not be the only issue. You could be voluntarily contaminating your food with lead and cadmium and not even realize it. Here&#;s how.

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Although glassware is generally considered safe, your drinking glasses may be contaminated with lead and cadmium metal. These two heavy metals are often added to low-quality glass products to help them melt during the manufacturing process, but they can have adverse effects on your health. Therefore, you should know how to identify lead or cadmium-contaminated products. 

In this guide, we&#;ll help explain why glassware sometimes contains lead and cadmium, how these two metals can affect your health, and how you can quickly spot bad drinking glasses. Use this information to buy safe products and protect your family at home.

What is Lead?

Despite its bad reputation, lead is nothing more than a naturally occurring metal found within the Earth&#;s surface. Yet, unlike iron, aluminum, or gold, even small amounts of lead can leach into our bodies and wreak permanent havoc on our internal systems. What&#;s worse is that it&#;s so easy to find small amounts of lead in our everyday lives.

Lead exists in the soil around us, in the water we use to wash our clothes, and even in the air we breathe&#;mostly as a result of fossil fuels and other chemical processes. For decades, common household products such as gasoline, paint, and even our dishes were laced with lead to help stabilize the compounds. Unfortunately, though, all that lead was seeping into Americans&#; nervous systems.

Today, the OSHA and EPA have worked hard to reduce the amount of lead in our everyday consumer goods, but you still have to be careful to avoid it in both imported and antique products.

Is Lead Glass Safe?

You likely won&#;t show signs of acute lead poisoning unless you&#;ve been exposed to a high level of lead in a short amount of time. If you have, though, you may experience sudden:

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 Fatigue and physical weakness

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 Headaches

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 Tingling sensations

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 Abdominal pain and constipation

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 Loss of appetite

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 Irritability and moodiness

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 Short-term memory loss

Unfortunately, though, most victims don&#;t show signs of lead poisoning until months or even years of exposure have passed. This is what makes lead poisoning so insidious. You could be slowly poisoning yourself over many months without even realizing it and, by the time you do realize it, the damage could be permanent.

Long-term lead exposure can cause nerve damage, permanent memory loss, intellectual disabilities in children, and even miscarriages and death. Therefore, it&#;s crucial that you inspect your glassware for lead before it affects your health.

What is Cadmium

Like lead, cadmium is another naturally occurring metal found within the Earth&#;s surface. It has a soft, whitish-blue tone and is commonly found alongside zinc ore. Today, it&#;s commonly used in jewelry and accessories, rechargeable batteries, and other industrial products and is sometimes used as a coating for electronics, solar panels, plastics, and dyes, and pigments.  

Although it&#;s less well-known than lead, cadmium is also a highly toxic heavy metal. Unfortunately, it&#;s far more commonly used in everyday products&#;from electronics to cookware and kitchen utensils.

Is Cadmium Glass Safe?

Just as lead takes a while to accumulate in the body, cadmium poisoning doesn&#;t happen overnight. However, once enough toxins have built up, you can suffer equally severe symptoms that persist for years or even a lifetime. These symptoms include:

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 Kidney disease

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 Loss of bone mass

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 Nerve damage

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 Cardiovascular weakness

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 Cancer

Your body can process cadmium and remove it through the urinary system, but it takes time to completely eliminate the heavy metal. During that time, cadmium continues to wreak havoc as it circulates through your blood, liver, and kidneys.

Lead and Cadmium Used in Drinking Glasses

Although lead and cadmium have been used for decades in industrial processes, it wasn&#;t clear just how common these two metals are in common kitchenware&#;especially drinking glasses. However, in a study completed at the University of Plymouth, researchers discovered that roughly 70% of all drinking vessels contained traces of lead and cadmium.

Although not all of those drinking glasses contained dangerous amounts of lead and cadmium, the sheer volume of glasses that contained heavy metals is noteworthy. Furthermore, some of the tested glassware proved to have hundreds and even thousands of times more lead than what the EPA deems safe for human use.

Under current regulations set by the US Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment, any lead concentration higher than 200 parts per million is too high for human consumption. This means that some drinking vessels had as much as 400,000 parts lead for every 1,000,000 parts. At this concentration, you and your family would surely be at risk for lead poisoning.

So, if the average person knows that lead and cadmium are toxic in high volumes, why do manufacturers continue producing drinking vessels with such high heavy metal concentrations? It comes down to cutting costs and improving the overall look of their products.

When manufacturers mix lead with glass, it oxidizes and helps the glass melt at a lower temperature. The glass is then easier to manipulate and bend into an aesthetic shape without having to heat it for longer periods. Additionally, many decorative drinking glasses are coated with a lead or cadmium-based enamel that, if scratched, flakes off, leaving lead and cadmium in your drink.

Lead and Cadmium-Free Drinking Glasses

If you are concerned about your family&#;s health, rest assured that not all drinking glasses contain lead. While the University of Plymouth study does highlight just how common lead and cadmium are in drinking vessels, you can avoid contaminating your beverages by purchasing higher-quality lead-free glasses.

There are plenty of lead and cadmium-free drinking vessels available on the market if you know how to look for them. Before you start shopping, though, take a moment to inspect your own glasses. If they&#;re already lead and cadmium-free, there&#;s no point replacing them. Follow our guidelines in the next section to figure out if your glasses are lead-free.

Buy our high-quality, lead and cadmium free, European made glassware products. Take care of your family.

Click here to see our test results.

How to Tell if a Drinking Glass Contains Lead

First and foremost, if you are not drinking from crystal, antique glassware, or decorative glass, your glassware is most likely lead-free. However, it doesn&#;t hurt to check. Start by picking up a glass and feel the weight in your hand. Lead glass is typically much heavier than lead-free glass due to the higher metal content in the crystals.

After feeling the weight of the glass in your hand, tap the side of the glass with either your fingernail or the tongs of a fork. If it makes a gentle clink, your glassware is most likely safe. However, if it makes a long ring, it may contain heavy metals. The longer the ring goes on, the more lead or cadmium your drinkware contains.

Another way to tell if your drinkware is lead-free is to hold it up to the light. Standard glassware is better at refracting light, meaning you should be able to see a prism of light breaking into a rainbow. If you struggle to make a rainbow no matter how you hold the glass, it could contain lead.

If you are still unsure, you can test your glassware by leaving a cup of distilled white vinegar in one of your drinking glasses overnight. Because vinegar is naturally acidic, the lead will quickly dissolve into the vinegar and you can test it after 12 hours for signs of contamination. Lead test kits are cheap and easy to find at most hardware stores.

Is it Safe to Drink from Antique Glassware?

As beautiful as your inherited glassware might be, your great-grandmother&#;s set of stemware could be contaminated with high levels of cadmium and lead. Products produced prior to the s weren&#;t subjected to the same stringent tests and regulations as today so lead and cadmium were likely both added during the production process.

If you&#;re attached to your antique drinking glasses, we recommend testing them for lead before using them and, if they test positive, only keep them as decoration. Using them as drinkware could put your and your family&#;s health at risk.

Are Drinking Glasses from China Safe?

Chinese products are often subject to a lot of skepticism &#; and rightly so. Over the years, China built a reputation of having low quality products and especially with kitchenware, drew lots of criticism over the safety of the products that they were exporting to the US. After years and years of bad experiences by consumers, there has been a general pull away from Chinese-made products and more focus on European-made products instead because of their well-known and trusted manufacturing process. But of course knowing where the glass is from isn&#;t enough, so, how do we know what glasses are really safe?

Beyond checking every glass for lead and cadmium, you can follow a few standard rules to avoid low-quality products:

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 Only buy glassware from a reputable store.

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 Check the company&#;s testing documents online and look for lead-free and cadmium-free labels on the packaging

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 Look for other labels warning you not to consume food or beverages from the glassware such as;

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 Decorative

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 Not for Food Use

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 Toxic

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 Lead-Based Glaze

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 Glaze Contains Lead

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 Food Use May Cause Contamination

If you live in California, you can also look for a mandatory lead warning. Under California Proposition 65, manufacturers must label goods if they contain lead above FDA-approved levels. This warning reads as follows:

&#;WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.&#;

Is it Possible to Find Lead and Cadmium-Free Crystal?

For nearly all of history, crystal glass has been produced using a mix of lead and cadmium. By adding these two heavy metals during the manufacturing stage, crystal makers were able to create strong and beautiful glass with intricate designs. However, as the general public has learned just how dangerous lead and cadmium can be, it&#;s left many wondering if they can still safely use crystal glass.

Fortunately, modern manufacturers have devised a unique way to make high-quality crystal glass without polluting it with toxic heavy metals. Instead, they add a mixture of potassium oxide, barium oxide, and zinc oxide. Although this process still requires added metals, potassium, barium, and zinc are all safe for human use.

Nonetheless, always be sure to check the manufacturer&#;s webpage the next time you&#;re shopping for expensive crystal drinkware. Don&#;t let your posh taste destroy your health.

What is the Safest Glass to Drink From?

Although it&#;s hard to know exactly what goes into the manufacturing process, the safest drinking glasses are those produced by well-known, well-respected, and well-established glassware companies. Any glassware company worth its reputation has allowed their products to undergo rigorous testing for lead and cadmium to guarantee their customer&#;s safety.

Click here to buy our high-quality, lead and cadmium free, European made glassware products. Take care of your family.

Click here to see our test results.

Although no company readily advertises that their products contain dangerous levels of heavy metals, recent research has shown that a majority of drinking vessels contain trace amounts of lead and cadmium. Protect your and your family&#;s health by inspecting your drinking vessels and investing in guaranteed lead/cadmium-free products. It&#;s not worth it to save a few dollars on glassware and put your health at risk. If you take the risk with your health, you could suffer life-long consequences.

Janie Mae Jones McKinley

Times-News columnist

Granny had a collection of dishes that came free in oatmeal boxes. It was quite exciting to open a new cylinder-shaped cardboard carton of oatmeal and see if a matching saucer was included for the teacup from the last box. Granny and I could joke that the worst outcome would be another teacup. Then we would each have a new cup.  

But if this box contained a saucer, she could cool her coffee as she sipped it. Mountain people back then enjoyed scalding hot coffee, but the saucer underneath the cup wasn&#;t just for looks. They liked to pour coffee from the cup into the saucer to cool before they drank it.  

Colorful tableware was always fun for a lady as decorative as Granny. Because of Grandpa&#;s railroad job, she was fortunate to have adequate dishes stacked on shelves inside the metal pie safe. It doubled as a china cabinet since she also used the wood cookstove warmer to store desserts. But she enjoyed dishes in new colors and designs to drink coffee, beautify the table, and add to her assortment. 

The long-running promotional campaign by Quaker Oats actually began in the s and became extremely popular during the Great Depression. Oats, once used exclusively for livestock, provided healthful economical nutrition during hard times. Traditional advertisements declared, &#;Quaker Oats&#;yields&#;food value&#;up to six times other major foods&#;.&#;

The company knew whole-grain oatmeal was a great product, but consumers were understandably slow to recognize its potential. Quaker needed to overcome the &#;horse feed&#; stigma and make plain oatmeal more appealing to customers. The marketing executive who developed the plan to include a lovely free dish &#; inside the box &#; was definitely thinking &#;outside the box.&#; It was a brilliant advertising concept for the times. The creative idea of free dishware helped Quaker promote previously undesirable whole-grain oats as &#;The Great American Breakfast.&#;  

When families barely had money for groceries, ladies were thrilled with a pretty teacup, cereal bowl, drinking glass, or saucer. Even the most basic food tasted better when it was served on a lovely dish. Fortunately, new technology being developed at the time reduced the cost of manufacturing dinnerware. Cheaper wholesale prices enabled Quaker to include a nicer dish in each box. 

From the s through the s, they chose several china and glassware companies to supply those products. Like Quaker, which began in , some of those old-fashioned companies are still in existence. One example is the Homer Laughlin China Company that opened in . Their lovely designs were extremely popular in oatmeal boxes, and Granny enjoyed adding them to her collection.  

When I searched online for vintage dishes in the colors I remembered, I chose cups and saucers in Laughlin&#;s Eggshell Georgian Countess pattern. The dainty flower shapes seemed to be familiar and reminded me of Granny&#;s assortment. Homer Laughlin dishes for oatmeal boxes were manufactured in a wide variety of colorful patterns back then. Their vintage styles continue to remain popular, and are quite collectible. Some enthusiasts fill entire china cabinets with authentic oatmeal-box dishes.  

So far, I have not found the exact pattern of a blue-and-white saucer fragment that I recently discovered in the home-place yard. Over 65 years after my grandparents lived there, a small scrap of one of Granny&#;s dishes remained, and its pattern is similar to collectibles currently for sale. The pretty little piece is quite possibly from a Homer Laughlin saucer that came in a long-ago cannister of oatmeal.  

Anchor Hocking Glass Company, a provider of glassware for Quaker oatmeal boxes, opened in and continues production in the 21st century. Their company has long been known for lovely cut-glass designs, and having a decorative glass was exciting for ladies who possibly couldn&#;t afford such luxuries. Providing desirable &#;freebies&#; built Quaker&#;s brand-name recognition and developed product loyalty. By continuing to purchase Quaker oatmeal, a family could accumulate quite a collection of dishes and glassware without out-of-pocket costs.  

Part of the appeal &#; in addition to the free item &#; was the mystery and excitement of wondering which of the lovely designs was deep inside each new oatmeal container. When I was five years old, Granny and I certainly enjoyed digging into the box. She poured the dry oatmeal into a large bowl, if necessary, to find the prized dish. Back then, oatmeal wasn&#;t just another item on the grocery list. Folks could also experience a bit of &#;Christmas morning&#; excitement any time of year.  

The Quaker Company enjoyed larger profits, the customers were delighted, and the previously unpopular idea of eating oatmeal became more accepted. The successful thirty-year advertising campaign was a winning combination for everyone. 

The Mother&#;s Oats brand of oatmeal, which also offered free dishware, had actually been owned by the Quaker Oats Company since . Mother&#;s Oats advertisements declared the free dishes were &#;As pretty as you could buy, yet you find them right in the package.&#; Just about any oatmeal company offering a free dish was likely a subsidiary of Quaker. In fact, the acquisition of Mother&#;s Oats gave Quaker ownership of half the milling operations east of the Rocky Mountains. Consolidation of large corporations is not just a modern business approach. It happened long before Quaker eventually merged with PepsiCo in .  

As other companies saw the success of including dishware inside product boxes, Duz detergent developed a similar program during the s. Because better-known brands seemed to be dominating the competitive laundry-detergent market, Duz followed the Quaker Oats example. They began placing Homer Laughlin dishes in their boxes, as well. However, the Duz Company focused on a single pattern of chinaware. The Golden Wheat design beautifully depicted waving stems of wheat in a gold color against a white dish. A great advertising point was the 22-karat gold edging that increased both the value and beauty of the dinnerware.  

The campaign became immensely successful for Duz detergent, and they introduced a new dish each month. Customers eagerly anticipated next month&#;s featured piece because they wanted to collect entire sets of dinnerware. Since detergent boxes were larger, the company included a full-size dinner plate one month. Then, one by one, salad bowls, bread plates, saucers, cups, sugar bowls, creamers, gravy boats, serving bowls, and casserole dishes followed. Consumers could eventually buy enough Duz for a complete dinner service for eight or more guests.  

As they had done for the Quaker Company, Anchor Hocking manufactured glassware for Duz detergent. They made sure the Duz glasses depicted the Golden Wheat design with gold rims to match the dishes in the popular advertising program. Happy customers filled china cabinets with dishes, serving accessories, and matching glassware, too. It was rumored that some ladies loved the wheat design so much, they accumulated lifetime supplies of Duz. Customers were said to have closets overflowing with opened detergent boxes to complete their dish collection.  

For many years, Duz detergent enjoyed the successful advertising campaign along with their slogan, &#;Duz Does Everything.&#; Although the brand was discontinued by Proctor and Gamble in , the famous Golden Wheat design dishes by Homer Laughlin remain popular and collectible in the 21st century. Older ladies remember that their grandmothers (and perhaps their mothers) treasured the lovely wheat-patterned dishware and proudly passed it into the next generation. 

Think about oatmeal-box dishes you may remember, and detergent-box dinnerware, too. Perhaps look in cabinets for pieces you may have been fortunate to inherit. Our grandmothers lived in eras when small decorative items were valued. Decades later, it honors their memory for us to appreciate a cup, saucer, or bowl that they would have prized.  

Janie Mae Jones McKinley's book  "The Legacy of Bear Mountain, Volume 2," (340 pages) is available in Hendersonville at the Historic Court House Gift Shop, The Curb Market, Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, M. A. Pace General Store (Saluda) and at Amazon.com. Over three years of her Back in the Day newspaper columns are included, along with new stories of Granny&#;s life on Bear Mountain. 

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