Chinese Porcelain
With Lead?
Polish Government Finds Lead In Porcelain Imported To Poland From China
Warsaw, Poland - 20 November, 2007 A safety warning has been issued to Polish consumers regarding porcelain imports from China after excessive levels of lead and cadmium were discovered in the paints used for decoration. Such porcelain may have been bought and transported all over the world by unsuspecting tourists.
According to the Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, the level of lead contamination in paints has been found to be 100 above the limit and cadmium 10 times the limit.
The Chief Sanitary Inspectorate is a central administrative body under the Minister of Health. It is charged with public health protection. It focuses particularly on communicable disease control, food and nutrition safety, environmental hygiene, health promotion and other issues related to public health.
The health danger exposed in this matter goes well beyond Poland.
Tourist markets and gift shops in Poland are filled with Chinese imported tea cups and tea pots as well as a myriad of other products. Unsuspecting tourists purchase gifts to take back home are big buyers of such products. Tourist that go the Cepelia shops in Warsaw, long known for selling Polish folk crafts, often do not recognize that those shops are currently carrying cheap imports and not only Polish products.
And shops all over the country carry packaged Chines porcelain targeted for sale to local gift buyers.
How long the problem has existed and how much porcelain has been distributed is not known at the present time.
Tourists who bought Chinese leaded porcelain and returned to their home county are not likely to be informed of the danger. The information about the find has received very little Polish, and little or no foreign media, attention.
The problems noted in other countries related to Chinese toothpaste, toys and other products have, in spite of the large number of imports from China, been notably absent in Poland. They either don't exist or have not been found.
Poland has generally maintained its high standards of quality and has not suffered the damages to its brand as China has been suffering over the past months. The notable exception for Poland is the dispute over meat going into Russia. And the problem with the meat, if there is a problem at all, is an open question. Why Can't Poland Cure The Russian Meat Ban?
The Polish brand has been steady getting stronger while this latest incident with Chinese products is no help to Chinese exporters.
