Risk of lead in crystal

This is something that came into my attention recently.

"There are many different health effects associated with elevated blood lead levels. Young children under the age of six are especially vulnerable to lead's harmful health effects because their brains and central nervous system are still being formed. For them, even very low levels of exposure can result in reduced IQ, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, behavioral problems, stunted growth, impaired hearing, and kidney damage. At high levels of exposure, a child may become mentally retarded, fall into a coma, and even die from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning has also been associated with juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior.

In adults, lead can increase blood pressure and cause fertility problems, nerve
disorders, muscle and joint pain, irritability, and memory or concentration problems.
It takes a significantly greater level of exposure to lead for adults than it does for kids to sustain adverse health effects. Most adults who are lead poisoned get exposed to lead at work. Occupations related to house painting, welding, renovation and remodeling activities, smelters, firing ranges, the manufacture and disposal of car batteries, and the maintenance and repair of bridges and water towers, are particularly at risk for lead exposure. Workers in these occupations must also take care not to leave their work site with potentially contaminated clothing, tools, and facial hair, or with unwashed hands. Otherwise, they can spread the lead to their family vehicles and ultimately to other family members.

When a pregnant woman has an elevated blood lead level, that lead can easily be transferred to the fetus, as lead crosses the placenta. In fact, pregnancy itself can cause lead to be released from the bone, where lead is stored—often for decades—after it first enters the blood stream. (The same process can occur with the onset of menopause.) Once the lead is released from the mother's bones, it re-enters the blood stream and can end up in the fetus. In other words, if a woman had been exposed to enough lead as a child for some of the lead to have been stored in her bones, the mere fact of pregnancy can trigger the release of that lead and can cause the fetus to be exposed. In such cases, the baby is born with an elevated blood lead level.

Exposure to lead is estimated by measuring levels of lead in the blood (in micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set a "level of concern" for children at 10 micrograms per deciliter. At this level, it is generally accepted that adverse health effects can begin to set in. However, recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine provides new evidence that there could well be very harmful effects occurring at even lower levels of exposure, even as low as 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. In other words, science is now telling us that there is in fact no level of lead exposure that can be considered safe."

The above information was sourced from http://www.nsc.org/library/facts/lead.htm .

So, exactly why am I blabbering about the risk of exposure to lead?

Well, simply because if you read my previous post on Swarovski crystal, you should realize by now that Swarovski crystal has no less than 32% lead. It is this 32% that makes the crystal optically pure to the eye which makes it the superior crystal. But at the same time, it is also the same 32% that had many worrying especially when California Proposition 65 law requires that Swarovski goods to be labeled as hazzardous. o_O

The CA Prop65 requires a warning that reads :
These beads contain small amounts of lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm if ingested. We recommend that you wash your hands after handling, and keep all items away from small children and infants.

Which means, the sale of Swarovski goods must come with the above warning.

Looking at that warning, who wouldn't think twice about buying Swarovski crystals?

Because of the aforementioned warning, the issue as to the risk of lead content in Swarovski crystals has been an on-going debate for a while some time back already but which only came to my attention recently.

But from what I manage to gather from forums, the issue could be said to be pretty much settled.

Lead is only harmful if CONSUMED. Basically, wearing jewellery containing lead IS SAFE.

So, UNLESS you are going to take your Swarovski crystal beads, grind them into fine powder, then dissolve that powder in liquid and drink it, then, there's a great probability that you could be harmed. But since that's rather far-fetched & unlikely to happen, there's really no genuine problem. Swarovski crystal beads expose you to no risk when worn, just as drinking champagne from a crystal champagne flute is not risky.

This is the reponse from Swarovski Crystal regarding this issue which I found on the internet.

"Regarding the content of Swarovski Crystal. Crystal is composed of quartz, minimum and potash. Lead Crystal is glass with 30% or more Lead-oxide. The special molecular structure of crystal glass immobilizes the lead in a way of blocking it. That's why Swarovski crystals are substantially below the maximum allowance standards of lead release required by the high standard of Council Directive 84/500 of the European
Community."

At this point, it may be worth the while to look into the legal aspect and background of Proposition 65 because California seems to be the only place that I know of which requires such a warning against a retailer of any kind (and wherever based) which maintain retail outlets in California in which lead crystal products are sold.

Proposition 65 was passed as a voter's initiative in November 1986. As it was written and adopted, the law is basically self-executing and the responsibility for compliance rests with the covered businesses.

To further explain Proposition 65 in a nutshell; based upon its knowledge of its business operations and potential chemical exposures, a business should review the Proposition 65 chemical list and determine which chemicals would even be likely candidates for exposure. What would determine whether a warning would need to be given is if individuals would receive exposures to the listed chemicals above a significant risk level from the anticipated use of the product.

The decision to provide a warning is made by the respective business. The responses to the exposure questions should be obtained from the business (the person responsible for providing the warning). So if Swarovski has told the retailers in California to warn, they have decided that their products could cause a risk of exceeding the allowable amount of lead under NORMAL use of the product.

Looking at it from a legal standpoint, my guess is that issuing this warning is just a pro-active liability limitation on the part of Swarovski.

Without this sort of "warning" Swarovski are leaving themselves wide open to litigation in the event some crackhead should decide to make a head-to-toe ensemble from their crystals and lives and breathes in the said outfit 24 hours a day for several years and ends up with lead poisoning as a result!!!

As stated earlier, unless you're grinding up the crystals and sprinkling them on your breakfast cereal, it is doubtful that "normal" jewellery usage and wear will give you any problems.

The general agreement seems to be that wearing or handling items with lead content is no more dangerous than using a microwave, drinking milk, or living near a road with lots of traffic. The real danger is in ingesting lead or inhaling lead particles - not something you're likely to do on a day-to-day basis.

Thing is, EVERYTHING has the potential to be dangerous if misused. Cotton balls, soft and innocuous and not generally considered to be a threat but try eating them - if you don't choke on them first, they're certainly not going to do your digestive tract any good.

So, what's the conclusion?

Bottom line is, Swarovski crystal is safe to wear. And that's what we really need to know. Otherwise, they would have gone out of business long time ago and you wouldn't see not only beaders and jewellery makers but also some very prominent fashion designers using them.

I understand this entry may be a bit 'heavy' but I hope not for this entry to arouse the worry in you. I had only meant and hope for these information that I discovered to be helpful and not harmful.

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Postscripts:
On a lighter note, Guide to Beadwork - THE ONLINE VERSION works like an e-book on beadwork. I have no idea how the real thing looks like but I think even this online version is good enough. This is one mostly on beadstitching. The content is divided into chapters starting with the basics techniques about beadstitching that you would need to know like how to start and finish a piece of work and even a section on how to add on new thread. The are also different chapters on the respective different type of stitches such as gourd stitch, brick stitch, chevron chain, daisy chain and so on. It does come with step by step pictorial instructions so you might want to check this out if you're one into beadstitching.
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