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United States LEAD POISONING FROM CERAMICS
1358 will accept the monasticism of this kind of The Health Research Group will accept neither Government nor industrial subvention. Operating funds are limited. The budget of the Health Research Group consists of membership dues (not tax exempt) and the fees from Wolfe’s lectures and the sale of books and pamphlets. Wolfe and his associates work a 6-day week. They subsist on modest salaries-Wolfe allows himself an income about
Few
physicians
career.
Round the World From
our
Correspondents
United States LEAD POISONING FROM CERAMICS
ANYONE who has read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (or seen the I Claudius series on television) will have been impressed by what a bunch of monsters most of the Roman emperors were, and it has been suggested that they were driven crazy by the lead in the vessels from which they drank so much wine. In more recent years, other sources of lead have been the targets of those charged with protecting the public welfare. In the United States in the 1970s federal agencies made strenuous efforts to reduce population exposure by banning lead-based interior house paints, reducing the lead content of tinned food, and phasing out leaded petrol for cars. These efforts succeeded: between 1976 and 1980 blood-lead levels in the US population fell by a third. The need for continued vigilance was shown by reports that intelligence levels in children (who absorb lead more readily than adults) were inversely correlated with blood-lead levels and that infants who had been exposed to lead in utero had impaired mental and physical development in the first two years of life. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began setting lead limits for ceramic products after an incident in 1969 when a California family suffered acute lead poisoning from drinking orange juice stored in a jug bought in Mexico. Lead (and cadmium) are commonly used in glazes that impart an attractive shine to ceramic products. If the glaze is properly formulated, and firing is hot and lasts long enough, the glaze will be safe; otherwise the heavy metals may leach out, especially in the presence of acid. In 1971 the FDA issued regulations on the amount of lead that can leach from any ceramic ware, and the limits were reduced in 1980. The FDA test is to expose the product to a 4% solution of acetic acid for 24 hours and measure the amount of lead released. The maximum was set in 1980 at 7 parts per million (ppm) for plates and saucers, 5 ppm for cups and small bowls, and 25 ppm for larger vessels more likely to be used for storage (the limits for cadmium are about a tenth of those for lead). Products designed solely for display are exempt if they are permanently labelled: "Not For Food Use-Plate May Poison Food. For Decorative Purposes Only". Most large pottery producers in the USA and elsewhere comply with the agency’s limits: but older pottery and that from other sources may not conform. The FDA cannot test all imports. In 1987 it had 78 inspectors to check food and food-related products, including ceramics. According to Newsweek (Oct 31), the USA imported 873 million ceramic pieces in 1986. The FDA says that about half this comes from Japan, which has an excellent record of complying with US requirements. But the FDA gives high inspection priority to ceramics from China, India, Italy, Macao, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, and Thailand. Products from China are automatically detained at US ports until the importer can prove they meet FDA standards. In 1987, 14% of imported pieces tested by the FDA exceeded the lead limit, and 281 shipments from several countries were recalled. Lead poisoning is notoriously hard to diagnose. A couple in Seattle, who had drunk much coffee from terracotta mugs purchased in Italy in 1977, both fell ill-the husband with
one-third that of the average physician in the United States. Every generation chooses its own heroes-warriors, statesmen, writers, artists. Rarely will the stalwart populists, the public defenders, and the advocates of a safe and wholesome society become heroes in their own time. In
historic perspective, 590 Ellsworth Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
they are heroic nevertheless. GEORGE A. SILVER, Professor Emeritus of Public Health
insomnia, weight loss, and wrist pain (leading to two unsuccessful
carpal-tunnel operations), the wife with an illness thought to be porphyria. It was not until the husband did much research in medical texts and journals that, at his insistence, blood tests for lead were done and lead poisoning was diagnosed. The couple has since formed a company that markets a kit for testing ceramic products for lead in the home. They have tested many products and reported those found wanting to the FDA. Their reports have led to two major recalls of pottery from Spain and Italy. It is not only imports that can be hazardous: the FDA recounts the story of a couple who had severe abdominal pain and anaemia after beginning to use daily some decorated glasses purchased forty years previously. Their blood-lead levels were 125 and 1181lg/dl. It was thought that dishwasher detergents had accelerated the release of lead. The FDA recommends using glass or plastic to store food, especially if it has a high acid content (fruit juice, wine, tomato sauce, vinegar), and not using ceramic pieces that are old, made by amateurs, or purchased abroad.
Sudan WHEN AID-SUPPORTED
PROJECTS FAIL
WITHOUT international aid in various forms, the gap between the Third World and developed countries is bound to increase, intensifying the tensions that generate wars or instability and threaten the peace of large regions. This process, aggravated by ethnic and other frictions, has already brought war to Sudan and to Central America. It is all too apparent that the Third World needs more machines to step up production. It needs too a greater impact of technical knowledge on how to grow more agricultural and animal produce and on how to preserve health in a hostile environment. It also needs more and better roads, railways, airways, and waterways to move materials and people, as necessary for
development. In spite of massive contributions in the past, the gulf between the developed and the Third Worlds continues to widen and disaster areas proliferate. (Disasters, in fact, have meant that much recent aid has been in the form of emergency provisions sent in the hope of averting or postponing starvation.) In much of the Third World and especially in disaster areas, many donated machines are broken beyond repair-as, for example US$6 million worth of road making and grading vehicles donated in Southern Sudan three or four years ago by the US Government. Many research institutions fare no better. Thus, in the same region, a veterinary research institute funded for ten years by the World Bank is now used only as local housing, two agricultural institutes are virtually abandoned, as is one forestry scheme, and a donated boat-building yard is derelict. In Brazil the building of roads for development led to changes in humidity and weather and to an international outcry against the abuse of human rights. The list of similar failures is endless; it goes back to the groundnuts scheme in Tanzania in the 1950s and earlier. One reason for failures is that the direct supply of an obvious need often takes little account of the background requirements for the maintenance of whatever is supplied; or sometimes, as in Brazil, failure stems from the changes aid may bring about. In short, the matter is not thought through properly. Even emergency relief requires careful thought. Concentration of many thousands of camps and distribution centres depopulates large areas and leaves them fallow, even when their inhabitants could have returned to
Few
physicians
career.
Round the World From
our
Correspondents
United States LEAD POISONING FROM CERAMICS
ANYONE who has read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (or seen the I Claudius series on television) will have been impressed by what a bunch of monsters most of the Roman emperors were, and it has been suggested that they were driven crazy by the lead in the vessels from which they drank so much wine. In more recent years, other sources of lead have been the targets of those charged with protecting the public welfare. In the United States in the 1970s federal agencies made strenuous efforts to reduce population exposure by banning lead-based interior house paints, reducing the lead content of tinned food, and phasing out leaded petrol for cars. These efforts succeeded: between 1976 and 1980 blood-lead levels in the US population fell by a third. The need for continued vigilance was shown by reports that intelligence levels in children (who absorb lead more readily than adults) were inversely correlated with blood-lead levels and that infants who had been exposed to lead in utero had impaired mental and physical development in the first two years of life. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began setting lead limits for ceramic products after an incident in 1969 when a California family suffered acute lead poisoning from drinking orange juice stored in a jug bought in Mexico. Lead (and cadmium) are commonly used in glazes that impart an attractive shine to ceramic products. If the glaze is properly formulated, and firing is hot and lasts long enough, the glaze will be safe; otherwise the heavy metals may leach out, especially in the presence of acid. In 1971 the FDA issued regulations on the amount of lead that can leach from any ceramic ware, and the limits were reduced in 1980. The FDA test is to expose the product to a 4% solution of acetic acid for 24 hours and measure the amount of lead released. The maximum was set in 1980 at 7 parts per million (ppm) for plates and saucers, 5 ppm for cups and small bowls, and 25 ppm for larger vessels more likely to be used for storage (the limits for cadmium are about a tenth of those for lead). Products designed solely for display are exempt if they are permanently labelled: "Not For Food Use-Plate May Poison Food. For Decorative Purposes Only". Most large pottery producers in the USA and elsewhere comply with the agency’s limits: but older pottery and that from other sources may not conform. The FDA cannot test all imports. In 1987 it had 78 inspectors to check food and food-related products, including ceramics. According to Newsweek (Oct 31), the USA imported 873 million ceramic pieces in 1986. The FDA says that about half this comes from Japan, which has an excellent record of complying with US requirements. But the FDA gives high inspection priority to ceramics from China, India, Italy, Macao, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, and Thailand. Products from China are automatically detained at US ports until the importer can prove they meet FDA standards. In 1987, 14% of imported pieces tested by the FDA exceeded the lead limit, and 281 shipments from several countries were recalled. Lead poisoning is notoriously hard to diagnose. A couple in Seattle, who had drunk much coffee from terracotta mugs purchased in Italy in 1977, both fell ill-the husband with
one-third that of the average physician in the United States. Every generation chooses its own heroes-warriors, statesmen, writers, artists. Rarely will the stalwart populists, the public defenders, and the advocates of a safe and wholesome society become heroes in their own time. In
historic perspective, 590 Ellsworth Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
they are heroic nevertheless. GEORGE A. SILVER, Professor Emeritus of Public Health
insomnia, weight loss, and wrist pain (leading to two unsuccessful
carpal-tunnel operations), the wife with an illness thought to be porphyria. It was not until the husband did much research in medical texts and journals that, at his insistence, blood tests for lead were done and lead poisoning was diagnosed. The couple has since formed a company that markets a kit for testing ceramic products for lead in the home. They have tested many products and reported those found wanting to the FDA. Their reports have led to two major recalls of pottery from Spain and Italy. It is not only imports that can be hazardous: the FDA recounts the story of a couple who had severe abdominal pain and anaemia after beginning to use daily some decorated glasses purchased forty years previously. Their blood-lead levels were 125 and 1181lg/dl. It was thought that dishwasher detergents had accelerated the release of lead. The FDA recommends using glass or plastic to store food, especially if it has a high acid content (fruit juice, wine, tomato sauce, vinegar), and not using ceramic pieces that are old, made by amateurs, or purchased abroad.
Sudan WHEN AID-SUPPORTED
PROJECTS FAIL
WITHOUT international aid in various forms, the gap between the Third World and developed countries is bound to increase, intensifying the tensions that generate wars or instability and threaten the peace of large regions. This process, aggravated by ethnic and other frictions, has already brought war to Sudan and to Central America. It is all too apparent that the Third World needs more machines to step up production. It needs too a greater impact of technical knowledge on how to grow more agricultural and animal produce and on how to preserve health in a hostile environment. It also needs more and better roads, railways, airways, and waterways to move materials and people, as necessary for
development. In spite of massive contributions in the past, the gulf between the developed and the Third Worlds continues to widen and disaster areas proliferate. (Disasters, in fact, have meant that much recent aid has been in the form of emergency provisions sent in the hope of averting or postponing starvation.) In much of the Third World and especially in disaster areas, many donated machines are broken beyond repair-as, for example US$6 million worth of road making and grading vehicles donated in Southern Sudan three or four years ago by the US Government. Many research institutions fare no better. Thus, in the same region, a veterinary research institute funded for ten years by the World Bank is now used only as local housing, two agricultural institutes are virtually abandoned, as is one forestry scheme, and a donated boat-building yard is derelict. In Brazil the building of roads for development led to changes in humidity and weather and to an international outcry against the abuse of human rights. The list of similar failures is endless; it goes back to the groundnuts scheme in Tanzania in the 1950s and earlier. One reason for failures is that the direct supply of an obvious need often takes little account of the background requirements for the maintenance of whatever is supplied; or sometimes, as in Brazil, failure stems from the changes aid may bring about. In short, the matter is not thought through properly. Even emergency relief requires careful thought. Concentration of many thousands of camps and distribution centres depopulates large areas and leaves them fallow, even when their inhabitants could have returned to