Lead in Mexican clay cookware Pottery is the art of making sculptures, toys, and household items, mainly cookware.

These objects have a daily use among Mexican families. The manufacturing process of a piece of clay is as follows: A paste which is a mixture of clays and some other substances is obtained. Once the raw materials have been chosen to form the paste they are mixed, crushed and molded. Then, water is added to the clays to plasticize the mixture . The most used clays are kaolinite, halloysite, montmorillonite, bentonite, illite, sepiolite and attapulgite which are magnesium and aluminum sillicates. When the ceramic paste is molded into the desired shape, water is removed by a drying process. As drying proceeds, the particles are coming closer and contraction increases. The ceramic cooking is a process of densification. The heat triggers a series of reactions starting at solid state: chemical bond breaking, mineral decomposition and chemical bond creating. Later, liquid is generated, since a part of the components melt. The enamel is a very finely ground minerals suspension and it is applied to the ceramic pieces, usually after precooking. This varnished pieces are burned again in the oven, the mixture then becomes a vitreous coating firmly adhered to piece surface. The materials used to make the glaze are different types of oxides which are mixed in different ratios depending on the effect you wish to achieve by a stoichiometric weight calculation called Seger formula. The oxides used are: PbO, Li2O ,Na2O, K2O, CaO , MgO , BaO , ZnO , Al2O3 , B2O3 , Sb2O3 , SiO2 , TiO2 , SnO2 , ZrO2. Most glazes contain lead as the main melting reagent because of its low expansion coefficient which does not allow cracks occur. Because of this, bright color blemish-free pieces are manufactured. Glazed cookware items are used in food preparation and storage, in such activities lead is released and then is consumed through food. Another problem is that some lead glazes, after ceramic cooking, are soluble in weak acids such as vinegar, tomato and fruit juices. The daily use of clay cookware, causes a repeated exposure to small amounts of this element. This is the main source of lead exposure in Mexico and represents a serious public health problem. A cronic lead poisoning is known as plumbism or saturnism. Lead affects almost all organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems. Symptoms include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, confusion, headache, trouble sleeping, anemia, irritability, and in severe cases seizures, coma, and death. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning. The health effects in this age group include: brain damage and lower intelligence, behavior and learning problems,

hyperactivity, impaired speech and language, slowed growth, kidney and liver damage and hearing damage. In Mexico there are more than 50,000 persons producing glazed clay pieces. It is estimated that less than 3% of these artisans create lead-free pieces. Therefore, there is a need to eliminate or reduce the lead content on clay cookware and replace it with a less harmful material. Among the alternatives considered the most viable options to replace lead oxide are strontium or boron oxides. Such compounds or some mixture of them provide the glazed clay cookware similar characteristics to those provided by the lead oxide but they are harmless. Mexican government and Blacksmith Institute launched sensitization workshops on the damage of lead use and training programs in using lead-free glaze but there is a very slow change because potters think that if enamel is replaced they will have poor quality pieces. References: http://quimica.ugto.mx/revista/9/PASTAS%20Y%20ESMALTES.htm http://bvs.insp.mx/rsp/_files/File/1999/vol%2041%20n2/41s2_5_eliminacion.pdf http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/ciencia/volumen3/ciencia3/137/html/sec_10.html http://www.fonart.gob.mx/web/pdf/DO/Alfareria_sin_plomo_2012.pdf http://bvs.insp.mx/rsp/articulos/articulo.php?id=001359 http://nmai.si.edu/gm/html_sub/files_pdf/barro_esp.pdf http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/ency/article/002473.htm