Myth Busting: Is There REALLY Lead in Vintage Pyrex?

Vintage Pyrex
In 2016, after spending a weekend with Tamara Rubin, the founder of consumer advocacy nonprofit, Lead Safe America, I came home and wrote an article on lead in vintage Pyrex

And I struck a nerve

This article has been shared thousands of times now--both from people who love it or hate it. 

Then the trolls came. 

They accused me of infiltrating their private vintage Pyrex collectors' Facebook groups. 

They accused me of trying to disparage vintage Pyrex so that I could buy pieces for myself at less than market value.

They attacked the integrity of Tamara Rubin, the premier expert on lead in consumer products in the United States. 

Then I became the subject of an article on Snopes.
(that anyone cares what I think or wrote enough to "Snopes me" is flattering, honestly.)

In case you are wondering: 
  • I wasn't in any Pyrex collecting Facebook groups at the time (I interestingly have joined one recently).

  • I am certainly not collecting vintage Pyrex myself - although the fact that people think I alone can affect the market value of vintage Pyrex is flattering. 

  • And Tamara Rubin? Let me reiterate: She is THE leading expert on lead exposure at home in the United States, if not the world.

    When major media outlets want to talk to someone who knows what they are talking about regarding lead, they call Tamara.

So is there lead in Pyrex or not?

That's why you're here, right? To find out of there really is lead in vintage Pyrex?

Let's make this easy for you: 
YES. Most vintage Pyrex with a painted or colored exterior (both solid colors and designs) uses lead-containing paint. Go here to read more about why you should care.

But Snopes said....

The truth is that the people working at Snopes are not trained scientists. 

They are not professional researchers. 

They do not have any additional insight to answers about scientific issues than most journalists (including bloggers) who do their homework. 

They are supposed to be doing a combination of research and critical thinking in order to come to their conclusions but on this specific issue, they missed the boat. 

I'm not saying they are wrong all of the time, but I am saying they are wrong about this issue.

Their accusation:
Claims that lead is present in vintage Pyrex are unfounded because someone with no known or stated scientific background or knowledge of lead testing practices performed her own Lead Check Swab test which tested negative and posted it on YouTube.

Even though a lead expert's test with a precision scientific instrument was positive. 

At best, the results are inconclusive and and at worst, Tamara Rubin  (multi-award-winning expert in lead in consumer goods) is a fraud.

Here's what Snopes missed:
The test that came out negative was performed incorrectly

Obviously the Snopes "investigator" doesn't know much about Lead Check swab testing or she would have picked up on that. 

Despite the fact that this woman clearly has no expertise in lead in consumer products or proper lead testing protocol, she STILL had the audacity to accuse Tamara of using fake and unscientific methods. 

Did you catch that? She did the test wrong. 
Of course it came out negative.

And Snopes ate it up.

One YouTuber who does not know how to properly check for lead in consumer goods...

performs a test incorrectly...

posts it online...

and all of a sudden the actual science surrounding whether or not there is lead in vintage Pyrex is "inconclusive"?

Really? 

This is the exact type of crap Snopes says it is debunking and instead they fell for the YouTube equivalent of a fake news site and are preaching it as gospel. 

The irony is not lost on me.

Real Science

Lead check swabs are an incredibly useful tool for testing for lead in PAINT, dust and some other surfaces. 

They are primarily designed to be used to test PAINT, though. 

It's also important to know they have a threshhold--something that contains 600 PPM of lead needs to rub off onto it to trigger as positive. 

This is almost never an issue when testing the paint in vintage Pyrex because vintage Pyrex paint often has upward of 40,000 PPM lead - more than 66 times the amount of lead required to trigger the test when you do the test properly.


The video is short and seeing how a trained expert uses the swabs is essential for understanding the proper way to do the test (spoiler: You have to rub the swab on the paint.)

Now that you have seen Tamara, an expert, do a Lead Check Swab test, you can click through to watch this video of an INCORRECT Lead Check Swab test. (If you did not read the Snopes article, this is the video Snopes uses as "proof" that the presence of lead in vintage dishes is "inconclusive")

Notice anything? Oh yeah, she didn't test the paint! You know, the thing that LeadCheck Swabs are designed to test. 

She tested the glass which didn't come out positive because that's not what these swabs are designed to check. 

Because some of the material you are testing needs to rub off onto the swab. And glass doesn't rub off onto things unless you grind it up into powder first (which of course is not reasonable for the purposes of this test.)

So nice try, Snopes but you screwed up on this one.

Also, I might add that while these tests can be replicated by anyone with a Lead Check Swab on the exterior, painted surface of vintage Pyrex bowls, baking dishes and more, Tamara has also confirmed these results with an XRF, a precision scientific instrument. Not just once. Thousands of times.

Unlike the swabs, which will only give you a positive or negative reading, the XRF requires training and certification in order to use (which Tamara has) and will tell you the exact amount of heavy metals that are present in an item (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, etc) in parts-per-million. 

The amount of lead in the exterior of vintage kitchen items from Pyreix is commonly 40,000 PPM or more (for the record, anything above 90 PPM lead is above the amount legally allowed in items intended for use by children by modern standards).

Now that we have out-snopsed Snopes, and demonstrated that there is indeed lead in Vintage Pyrex (and Anchor Hocking and other brands of painted baking dishes and mixing bowls), go here to find out Does it matter if there is lead in vintage Pyrex bowls and dishes?

About the Author:

Carissa is an award-winning green and sustainably lifestyle writer and TV personality based in the Pacific Northwest. 

The owner and lead writer at Creative Green Living, she is also the author of the hardcover cookbook, Beautiful Smoothie Bowls (Skyhorse, 2017) and Proven Techniques for Keeping Healthy Chickens (Skyhorse, 2018) and The Little Green Book of Mothers' Wisdom (Skyhorse, 2020).

She and her projects have been featured on The Today Show, Readers Digest, Urban Farm Magazine, Capper's Farmer and more. Follow her on PinterestInstagramTwitter and TikTok or join the Creative Green Living Community Group on Faceboook.

14 comments

  1. This is very sad news to me. I love vintage Pyrex. I think it is beautiful and I have a modest collection. I'm even a part of a couple of those vintage Pyrex Facebook groups. The lead content in these is very problematic for me. How do I go about getting rid of my collection in an ethical way that isn't just passing lead-infused items off to another person?

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    Replies
    1. That's a great question but it doesn't have a clear answer. The pieces are not recyclable due to the lead paint. I definitely do not think they should be donated to a thrift store where any unsuspecting person can pick them up.

      In the past when I have had leaded items I needed to get rid of, I have listed them for sale and said in the description that the item tested positive for lead. This might be a good solution for you - be clear that you are getting rid of the items due to lead and that they are most appropriate for a collector rather than for everyday kitchen use.

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    2. I remember doing some digging on glass Pyrex and finding a women who decided to test old glass Pyrexes, and the results were lead positive as well.

      Found the article, it was by Tamara Rubin! The "Made In USA Vintage Pyrex Clear Glass Double Boiler Cooking Pot: 216 ppm Lead" post specifically, as I was considering buying one. Still sad about it, it's so pretty. :'D

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    3. It is sad! Unfortunately items created before the current regulations that we have in place existed are very likely to be contaminated. Even some modern items contain these contaminants because they are not regulated (or not regulated the same way consumers would assume they are).

      Delete
  2. Is the clear glass pyrex still
    Safe to use Whether or not its Vintage?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The clear glass pyrex should be non-detect for lead and cadmium. In the clear Pyrex with painted designs (including measuring cups) we have tested, though, the paint usually contains high levels of either lead or cadmium - even in brand new items. I think clear, unpainted Pyrex is your best bet from a toxicity perspective.

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  3. NO ONE EAT ON THE SIDE OF THE BOWL. why would you test there. Makes no sense.

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    Replies
    1. That’s a great question which is asked a lot.

      While it seems counter intuitive to test the outside of a bowl, the reason it is important is that paint wears and chalks off over time. If the paint chalking off is leaded, that lead is getting into your environment (in your kitchen!).

      As you wash dishes (including the outside of the bowls), as you dry them with towels, as you handle them, these things can cause the paint to slowly come off in small amounts but that paint is going somewhere.

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  4. What about the clear light pink vintage baking dishes?

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    Replies
    1. I have not seen XRF test results for those. This blog post specifically addressing milk glass bowls and dishes with painted exteriors.

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  5. Thank you so much for this eye opening information. I, too, love vintage and now must sadly purge my cupboards but the takeaway is that Grandma's way can be improved upon. Aren't we blessed for this-!!

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  6. Thanks for the article, I am saddened that the pyrex I've picked up thinking it was the best non toxic way to cook was in fact not. I have a collection of visions cooking pots/lids and also a few baking casseroles, are they safe to continue using?

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  7. Visions often have low levels of lead and barium and I would personally want to work on switching those out in my own kitchen for heavy metal free cookware.

    You can see more about the heavy metal test results of Visions here: https://tamararubin.com/?s=visions

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  8. I saw a small butterprint casserole on the Lead Free Mama website that does not have any level noted. I have the exact same butterprint casserole dishes and use them for cooking and storing. Can someone tell me if those have unsafe levels of lead? They are primarily white with the butterprint design on the exterior. I just threw out all my cherished but cracked and chipped vintage dishes. Made me sad. But I already have a neurological problem and really don't want to exacerbate it!

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I love comments! I welcome your comments and questions about this article here!