You can see the pellet that Stanley refers to on the backside of your drink container. It seals these layers collectively the place all of them meet on the backside of the bottle, in a course of known as lead soldering. Technically, the vessel does comprise lead, nevertheless it’s enclosed with stainless-steel and ought to by no means come in contact along with your drink or pores and skin. However, do you have to drop the water bottle or if it in any other case will get broken and this piece of metal comes free, there’s an opportunity the lead will be uncovered to your pores and skin.
Lead is a naturally occurring poisonous metallic. The World Health Organization (WHO) cites that there isn’t any protected degree of lead publicity. “Once lead enters the body, it is distributed to organs such as the brain, kidneys, liver, and bones.” High levels of lead exposure can be fatal. With lower levels of exposure—which can happen with a microscopic amount—lead poisoning in adults can cause nerve disorders, decreased kidney function, and fertility issues. In children, it can cause developmental delays and seizures. The WHO says children are “particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning because they absorb four to five times as much ingested lead as adults.”
“Lead is ubiquitous in the environment, so low levels of daily exposure are a fact of life,” says Jane Houlihan, nationwide director of science and well being at Healthy Babies Bright Futures. “Exposures and risks add up day to day from lead in food, water, house dust, and soil. This makes it all the more important for companies to keep lead out of consumer products. Children don’t need another potential source of lead in their lives.”
What Do Other Brands Use?
Lead soldering is low-cost and simple to make use of and is a standard apply from quite a lot of producers. However, various strategies can be found. Several of the reusable water bottle corporations we reached out to don’t use lead in their manufacturing course of. Here’s the listing:
- Owala (no lead), which makes our favourite water bottle the FreeSip, and a Stanley-dupe tumbler, says it has by no means used lead in its manufacturing course of. “The production of vacuum-sealed containers using lead-free solder is more costly and complicated. However, we made a commitment from day one with Owala to use lead-free solder on our bottles,” an Owala spokesperson says.
- Hydro Flask (no lead since 2013), another internet-famous water bottle company, stopped using lead solder more than 10 years ago. “By mid-2013, the lead was out of the Hydro Flask production process because the brand designed a proprietary sealant, TempShield,” a Hydro Flask spokesperson says.
- Klean Kanteen (no lead) also forgoes lead, instead using a noncrystalline silica bead to create its vacuum-insulated bottles. “The process, using silica instead of lead, is the same except higher heat is required to melt the silica,” says Rich Haver, the corporate’s director of worldwide operations. While some types of silica will be harmful if very effective particles are inhaled—sand is constituted of crystalline silica, so even finer than that—this does not apply to noncrystalline silica glass. “Silica in its noncrystalline form does not have the same respiratory health properties as crystalline silica,” says Marty Cohen, a teaching professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington.
- Sigg (no lead) makes stainless steel bottles in Switzerland and it confirmed it uses lead-free soldering for all of its vacuum-sealed products.
- MiiR (lead used) confirmed its use of lead in its manufacturing process with some of its products. According to its website, “This pellet does contain lead for manufacturing efficiency, waste reduction, and to ensure a complete seal. For these reasons and because there is zero lead exposure, MiiR utilizes this process with confidence.”
- LifeStraw (lead used) makes straws and filtered bottles that take away micro organism, microplastics, and parasites from water. We actually preferred the Go Series Filtered Water Bottle because of this. That makes it probably the most shocking firm to substantiate it makes use of “a lead soldering dot as part of the manufacturing sealing process.”
- Yeti (lead used) is a well-liked out of doors gear producer, and whereas it has not responded to a number of requests for remark, the corporate’s FAQ part on its web site says its Yeti Rambler drinkware makes use of a sealing pellet with a lead soldering course of.
- Other manufacturers (unknown): The following corporations haven’t responded to our requests for remark: S’well, HydroJug, and Greens Steel.
The Problem With Lead in Manufacturing
Even if the cup or bottle is rarely broken and you are by no means uncovered to steer, if it is used in the manufacturing course of, employees are nonetheless across the materials in a way. The solder coaching institute EPTAC says on its web site that the quantity of lead on solders is probably going not going to trigger extreme well being issues, however there’s nonetheless a danger for employees uncovered to steer in the course of the course of.
“When lead is used in manufacturing, there is a risk of lead exposure for consumers of those products, especially for products intended for use in food consumption, like drinkware,” says a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is also a potential occupational safety risk for workers and, without proper safeguards, could be a risk for workers’ families through take-home lead exposures.”
If your Stanley bottle or cup will get broken, you may ask for a alternative below Stanley’s lifetime guarantee. We requested Stanley if clients might return undamaged cups, or if the corporate plans to vary its manufacturing course of, nevertheless it solely pointed us to the identical data web page about its use of lead.
If you purchase one thing utilizing hyperlinks in our tales, we might earn a fee. This helps assist our journalism. Learn extra.