European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lead dangers in Ceramic Ware by Mary Neth consumer editor it the Toad out Thal pretty pottery you purchased at your last duly station of while on vacation May be loaded if it is it is hazardous to your health and you need to Stop using it Tor food and beverages most people assume that Lead poisoning trom Ceramic Ware went out with the decline of the roman Empire. A retired air Force lieutenant colonel arid his Wile know belter. Seven years ago Donald and fran Wallace almost died from the Lead leached out of a set of Ceramic dinnerware they purchased while stationed in Italy. Sinco then they have have conducted a Campaign to warn others of the danger. They have made appearances on to in the United states and Italy and before a congressional committee to Tell their Story. They have made recommendations to the . Food and drug administration Lor tightening its Lead allowance standards in dinnerware. It recently took such action they have opened a lab Frandon enterprises inc. In Seattle wash., which. Specializes in Tead research end detection. Waal important last year they began marketing a Home test kit thai allows the consumer to Check his own Ceramic Ware. The toxic effects of Tead have been known since ancient Home and its use of Load lined wine jugs and Lead lined cisterns. Reports of Lead Colic were attributed to the time of Hippocrates ago 355 . And some authorities speculate that Lead induced insert Lily and infant mortality were in part responsible Tor the Empire s dec. The Lull extent of modern Lead poisoning from pottery is unknown largely because the Early syn plots such As headaches nausea and irritability olten Are ignored and More serious illnesses Olen incorrectly diagnosed. The continuing severity of the problem gained attention How avar. In 1969 when two Young Canadian boys buffered acute Lead poisoning. One died. The other recovered Only after extensive treatment. The cause was traced to a glazed pottery Jug produced by a local craftsman the boys had been drinking Apple juice poured from it during a four week period. Around the same time a physician s family in California suffered serious Lead poisoning caused by drinking Orange juice poured from a mexican pottery Pitcher. It adds up to a scare Story real enough to have jarred the Federal government to take action. The Federal food and drug administration Fra has announced that it will now require Lead Levels no higher than 0,1 parts per off icon in Ceramic Ware effectively eliminating it but what about that pottery you Are buying in shops overseas. The pottery the wallaces purchased in 1977 released 400 times More Lead in 24 hours Man permitted under Ine Fra s less rigid Guk Jimines of the Lime. S4s photos by Dave Dudlo Wallace is certain he said in a recent stateside interview thai today s tourists and persons stationed overseas with the military Are undoubtedly purchasing and. Using defective Ceramic Ware it is difficult for me to believe i have. Uncovered the Only items sold with too much Lead he said. The wallaces Saga began when he was stationed i Naptes. Italy fran came across some pottery mugs she liked in a shop recalled Wallace in his statement to the congressional committee. They were typical he said of tha traditional pottery we d observed being widely sold and used throughout Southern Italy Tor the preparation and serving of food the wallaces searched for and finally found the factory that had produced the mugs it was in the Small Rural town of Rutigliano. During their visit they watched As. Pottery was made in a process that had been unchanged far seven generations. Hems were hand formed on a Potter s wheel then glazed and tired by the hundreds in a Large Brick Wood burning Kiln. Olive pits were added to increase the final firing temperature. The couple selected a Lull set of More than 200 items including plates bowls cups mugs pitchers and cooking and. Serving pieces. They had no reason to suspect that Lead was used in the Glaze and that with use it could Migrate into food and beverages. Not All earthenware is glazed. When. Glaze is used it is a thin Glassy Coaling generally containing Silica which is applied by dipping spraying or brushing. Lead and cadmium based Glaze is commonly used to give the finished product a shiny colourful when it is fired in the Potter ? Kiln the Glaze fuses and closely resembles e Glass. Surface. If properly applied it is impervious and almost insoluble and will not Leach into  the danger occurs when the pottery As in the Wallace Case is not fired at a High enough temperature or for a suitable period of time. The Lead then can Leach out and contaminate food  s next assignment was at tha defense language Institute in Monterey Calif. From there he look a position As an air Force advisor in he dominican. . With he exception o two mugs. He italian dinnerware was in and out of in storage Over the next three years. The mugs were used daily. The wallaces estimate they drank an average of eight cups of cd tee a Day from them Over that time period. Wallace has provided stars and or ropes with the following chronology of events As he reported them to Congress and in press interviews. Mrs Wallace was ins first g show signs of illness. Her symptoms which included weight loss vomiting and severe pain throughout her body puzzled the doctors. She was first diagnosed As having air a rare genetic disorder. Later another doctor diagnosed variegated porphyria an even rarer form of the disease Wallace was told his wife. Was going to die. The anaemia she suffered did not however fit the Patten of the genetic illness. As a former fighter Pilot and safety inspector Wallace notes he was no stranger to checking things out. To wanted to know Why his wife s anaemia puzzled the doctors and did not jibe completely with her  he headed to the Library and started poring Over medical books on anaemia. Lead can be a cause he discovered then buried in the Middle of a paragraph in a medical lox he read that Many clinical features of Tead poisoning Are similar to acute porphyria. Lead he Learned accumulates in the body and can Lead to chronic illnesses of the nervous system the reproductive and cardiovascular systems and the kidneys. Children Are More susceptible to its toxicity than adults. Wallace himself had lost 30 pounds and had two operations Tor Carpel Tunnel syndrome loss of feeling in the tips of the lingers. He also had personality changes Hal made him highly irritable also symptoms of Lead poisoning. He said the doctors laughed at the idea pointing out that mrs. Wallace was a homemaker. There was no Way she could be exposed to dangerous Levels a Lead unless she was eating pain chips off the Wall they told him couple and determined that both wallaces had Lead poisoning. I he Levels in Donald Wallace s blood were even higher than those found in his wife s. The two were immediately put under Che lation a process in which infusions Are Given that allow tha Lead to be processed by the kidneys and excreted they were Given a total of 16 infusions each. Each of the infusion required two hours. By a process of elimination they. Traced the poisoning to the Ceramic cups. Wallace went on to earn a master degree in Public health writing his thesis. On the danger of improperly  Ware and the couple opened their Laboratory and continued their research on Lead release from Ceramic Ware. " import recalls in .t Here s no Way to Tell by looking if Ceramic Ware is going to give you a deadly dose of heavy Metal. Though cheaper pottery is More Likely to pose a problem that s not always the Case. Only last year the . Food and drug administration ordered a whole line of expensive italian Ceramic removed from boutiques and department stores the Brilliant yellow Blue and red glazes leaked up to so More times Lead than is considered Safe. Fromi982 through 1987,19 recalls were issued by the organization. These recalls also were not confined to unknown shops with cheap imports they included Ware carried by Macy s and Gumps in California and from . Woolworth country floors and pier 1 in new York. The majority of the recalls were of Ware from Italy but High Lead Content also has been found in ceramics from Spain. Hungary China Japan Hong Kong Portugal the Netherlands France and Mexico. According to the Fra some the highest Lead releases Havo been found in dinnerware from the latter country which is purported to be the world s fifth largest pottery producer the sheer volume of pottery thai reaches the United states makes ii almost impossible to assure that every piece b perfectly Safe. The amount brought into the country by tourists and visitors from abroad is also impossible la estimate. In Italy which is under the european Community regulations there is a  Lead release and a restriction Aslo the percentage of Lead that can be used in glazes. However testing is very expensive and left up to the manufacturers the smaller ones do Little if any testing of their wares. Besides foreign Ware older pieces of american earthenware also often can be dangerous. To be sate Don t store acidic foods including wine and soft drinks in Ceramic Ware. It is Best to use plastic or Glass containers to store food or juice. Be careful of using antique pieces. Items made by Amateur potters Are beat used Only for decoration Don l use the same Ceramic Coffee cup every Day unless you Are sure that Ilis Safo Don Wallace also recommends that anyone diagnosed As having Carpel Tunnel syndrome ask to be tested for Lead poisoning Trie symptoms Are almost identical. And nobody tests for Lead poisoning he said i passed three air Force lighter Pilot physicals while i was almost dying of  in. In Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday december 17,1988