New EU regulation restricting lead in jewelry. What about lampwork glass?

[Nammie]

I just wondered - What did everyone decide to do (or not do) when we got to the end of October? I read through all the posts I could find and couldn't really make sense of what was legal and what wasn't....

[noora]

All jewelry and jewelry components imported or manufactured in EU now must be lead free, with only a few exceptions for stones, enamels and crystal glass. According to our local authorities in Sweden, the exceptions don't apply for soda glass (only crystal glass), which means lampwork beads in jewelry must also be lead free. I'd like a second opinion on that, but the final word would probably have to come from a court ruling in your own country.

To be honest I'm just sticking my head in the sand. If anyone insists, I'll say the beads made with lead bearing glass are collectibles and not intended for jewelry.

I think it's more important to make sure all your metal findings are lead free, if you make jewelry. Yet another reason to use sterling silver If you use base metal findings you should ask your suppliers and make sure everything is lead free.

[Barnacle Bay]

I'm not too sure how they will be able to enforce it, possibly Trading Standards will ultimately be the ones in the UK. 99 % of my items were made prior to October 

What if someone encases a higher lead content glass in a non lead glass, surely the lead is not going to permeate through it. 

These EU mop heads really do take the P, haven't they got anything else better to do?  Most things we find in everyday life may pose a potential health hazard, next they will be saying we shouldn't be living as its far to dangerous!

[flame n fuse]

Unfortunately the legislation doesn't mention the possibility of encasing, or the idea of using a tiny bit of high lead glass with a lot of low lead glass. However, the legislation does suggest that they would be responsive to more evidence on lead being leached out of glass and I have suggested to one of the manufacturers of high lead glass that they should link up with a local university as this would make an ideal MSc project for a chemistry student.
Of course it's good to keep lead levels down, but this legislation is so inconsistent - look on the web to see lead leaching levels from 'lead crystal glass'. I'll never leave the Christmas port in my granny's decanter again.

I did approach my MEP , and got him to write a letter, but we got a pretty useless reply. I've been trying to summon the energy to have another go. Perhaps if we all approached our MEP's and got them to write letters, it might get a bit more action!

[Barnacle Bay]

Look on the web to see lead leaching levels from 'lead crystal glass'. I'll never leave the Christmas port in my granny's decanter again.

From normal glass
Quote from http://www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/soc-sp/public_health/food_contact/PS%20E%20LEAD%20LEACHING%20VERSION%201.pdf.  the realistic estimated maximum lead exposure from glass hollowware(9) is < 5μg/day/person. Maximum exposure issued from glass tableware corresponds to 21 μg /day/person.

From lead crystal
One research team measured the amount of lead migration in Port wine that was stored in lead crystal decanters. After two days, lead levels were 89 micrograms; after four months, lead levels were between 2,000 and 5,000 micrograms. White wine doubled its lead content within an hour of storage, and tripled it within four hours.
Brandy stored in lead crystal for five years had lead levels around 20,000 micrograms.
Any liquid can leach lead from crystal just as effectively as wine and other alcoholic beverages. From http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/wine/lead-crystal.asp

Nickel (thought to be carcinogenic) and causes other allergys, leaches from stainless steel saucepans - In the US, the Tolerable Upper Limit of dietary nickel is 1000 µg/day,[66] while estimated average ingestion is 69-162 µg/day.[67] Large amounts of nickel (and chromium) --comparable to the estimated average ingestion above-- leach into food cooked in stainless steel. For example the amount of nickel leached after 10 cooking cycle into one serving of tomato sauce averages to be 88 µg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel#Toxicity). 
What if folks are not that tolerable to the upper limit of 1000 µg/day - that is still no good and it is being directly ingested. 

I do not think the leaching from beads is going to be as high as the decanter scenario as the liquid is paying a very active part in drawing the lead out.  I think the EU have gone potty.

[flame n fuse]

Perhaps we could post the manufacturers' MSDS and any other info received on the wiki so that we know which glasses are too high and which are OK? (reliable documented info, not hearsay)

[Barnacle Bay]

Perhaps we could post the manufacturers' MSDS and any other info received on the wiki so that we know which glasses are too high and which are OK? (reliable documented info, not hearsay)

That sounds a very good idea    But have the EU researchers actually researched the amount of lead leached onto the skin from direct dry contact?  It appears that acidity may be a cause of the high levels from the direct liquid. Skin pH in my opinion would not be enough to draw the lead in any quantity that would pose to be a risk.

There are still a number of homes in the UK & abroad that still have lead water mains - so what are they doing about that   

[flame n fuse]

The main concern is to protect children sucking on jewellery components. There is a link to the legislation in Noora's first post. Here is an extract from page 1 'On 15 April 2010 France submitted to the Agency a dossier pursuant to Article 69(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, in order to initiate a restriction process in accordance with Articles 69 to 73 of that Regulation. In that dossier, it was demonstrated that due to their mouthing behaviour, children, especially those under 36 months, can be repeatedly exposed to lead released from jewellery articles. Such repeated exposure to lead can result in severe and irreversible neurobehavioural and neurodevelopmental effects, to which children are particularly sensitive given that their central nervous system is still under development. The dossier demonstrates that action on a Union-wide basis is necessary, beyond any measures already in place, in order to avoid as much as possible the exposure to lead and its compounds in jewellery articles. Accordingly, the dossier proposes a prohibition of placing on the market and the use of lead and its compounds in jewellery articles if the lead migration rate is greater than 0,09 μg/cm 2 /h.'

[Nicknack]

Who in their right minds is going to let a baby suck on a bead - small articles, danger of choking!

Nick