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 referred to as lead soldering. Technically, the vessel does comprise lead, nevertheless it’s enclosed with chrome steel and will by no means are available in contact together with your drink or pores and skin. However, must you drop the water bottle or if it in any other case will get broken and this piece of metal comes unfastened, there’s an opportunity the lead might be uncovered to your pores and skin.

Lead is a naturally occurring poisonous steel. The World Health Organization (WHO) cites that there is no safe level of lead exposure. “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, national director of science and health 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 easy to use and is a common practice from a variety of manufacturers. However, alternative methods are available. Several of the reusable water bottle companies we reached out to do not use lead in their manufacturing process. Here’s the list:

• Owala (no lead), which makes in style bottles just like 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 might be harmful if very tremendous particles are inhaled—sand is constructed from 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.
• 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 appreciated 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.”
• Other manufacturers (unknown): The following firms haven’t responded to our requests for remark: Yeti, S’well, HydroJug, and Greens Steel. (Sigg responded however has not given us a solution but. We will replace this story after they do.)

The Problem With Lead in Manufacturing

Even if the cup or bottle is rarely broken and also you’re by no means uncovered to steer, if it is used within the manufacturing course of, staff are nonetheless across the materials not directly. The solder coaching institute EPTAC says on its website that the quantity of lead on solders is probably going not going to trigger extreme well being issues, however there’s nonetheless a threat for staff 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 possibly can ask for a substitute beneath Stanley’s lifetime warranty. We requested Stanley if clients may return undamaged cups, or if the corporate plans to alter its manufacturing course of, nevertheless it solely pointed us to the identical information page about its use of lead.

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