CrystalRaindrops — 2 years ago(January 28, 2024 10:54 AM)

The part about kids being bullied for not having Stanley cups is ridiculous.
First, Stanley cups were all over social media because so many people wanted them. Now, the oversize tumblers are back in the spotlight over fears they may contain lead.
Videos on social media sites such as TikTok show people breaking out a lead testing kit and trying it on their Stanley cups and other travel flasks.
It’s true: There is some lead sealed within the base of some brands of travel drinking cups — including the wildly popular brand Stanley.
Lead is used as part of the tumbler’s vacuum insulation and is covered by a stainless steel layer that protects consumers from lead exposure, according to the Stanley cup manufacturer, Pacific Market International.
“Our manufacturing process currently employs the use of an industry standard pellet to seal the vacuum insulation at the base of our products; the sealing material includes some lead,” a Stanley spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Once sealed, this area is covered with a durable stainless steel layer, making it inaccessible to consumers.”
“Rest assured that no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer nor the contents of the product,” the statement said.
But people on social media are nervous, considering the dangers of any exposure to lead. The toxic metal can lead to kidney problems, anemia, reproductive issues and developmental problems, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Stanley cups are everywhere.
Stanley cups are in the hands of beauty bloggers, the cars of parents at school pickup, and even on the Christmas lists of many kids this past year. Some parents have reported their children were bullied by peers if they came to school with any other brand of cup.
Some caution is warranted, said Jane Houlihan, research director for Healthy Babies, Bright Futures, an alliance of nonprofits, scientists and donors with a stated mission of reducing babies’ exposures to neurotoxic chemicals.
“If the cup stays intact, there’s likely no lead exposure risk for consumers. But if that bottom seal comes off, all bets are off,” Houlihan said.
“Lead is so toxic you just can’t take chances with it,” she said in an email. “If a company has to rely on their product remaining perfectly intact in order for it to be safe, that company has a basic material safety problem that they are passing on to their customers.”
If the base cap of a Stanley cup does come off and exposes the seal, which is rare, the cup is eligible for replacement under the lifetime warranty, according to a statement from Stanley.
It’s not just the Stanley brand that utilizes lead. Other brands have been subject to recall over their use of the material, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In November, the federal agency announced the recall of about 84,000 Tiblue Stainless Steel Children’s Cups and 3,600 Klickpick Home Children’s Cup Sets sold on Amazon due to “an accessible solder bead with levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban.”
Earlier that month, some 1,600 PandaEar and 200 Laoion stainless steel children’s cups sold on Amazon were recalled for the same reasons, according to the CPSC website.
And in July of last year, around 346,000 Cupkin stainless steel children’s cups were recalled by the manufacturer because they contained levels of lead that exceeded the federal lead content ban of 100 parts per million. (For water, the action level is 15 parts per billion, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.)
There is no safe level of lead for children, according to the US Consumer Product and Safety Commission. “Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect learning, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement,” the CDC said.
Lead “bio-accumulates” in the body, which means it stays and builds up over time, so ongoing exposure, even at extremely low levels, can become toxic. Children, especially fetuses and infants are the most vulnerable, says the Environmental Protection Agency, because it takes very little lead exposure to damage a child compared with an adult.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/26/health/stanley-cups-lead-wellness/index.html