In adults, treatment is recommended in persons with more than 80mcg/dL of lead in the blood. Lead is removed from the body at a much slower rate than it is accumulated. These lead reserves are released into the bloodstream when a person has the aforementioned aggravating issues. The lead deposits in adults reside in the bones and teeth. It can also be aggravated when a woman is pregnant, lactating, or in the menopausal stage. Lead poisoning can result in worsened conditions in adults, especially if you have aggravating illnesses like paralysis, kidney disease, or hyperthyroidism. No, it is not safe to use a lead crystal decanter for any liquor or spirit. Although the half-life of lead is low, just 36 days, consuming it daily can be dangerous. The US FDA has set a standard of 50mcg/liter. This results in more than 5,000 mcg/L of lead in wine. Research shows that keeping wine in a crystal decanter shoots up the leached lead into the wine in just 4 months. The EU standard is currently used to classify crystals in the international arena, so anything that satisfies these criteria is considered crystal. However, the US Federal standards label anything with more than 1% lead oxide to be crystal. These particular requirements make it easy to classify as crystal. Aside from that, it has to have a density of more than 2.9 and a reflective index of more than 1.545. The European Union (EU) standard is at 24% lead oxide. For this article, we use the word crystal to mean something that contains a lead oxide, which gives it brilliance from its high reflective value.īefore anything can be called crystal, it has to have the following attributes: So technically, crystalware is not crystal but a type of glass. Lead crystal is a misnomer since these are not crystals.Ĭrystals are more common than we know - sugar, table salt, and gemstones such as diamonds. First of all, let us clear the path for crystalware, such as decanters and stemware used for drink storage.