Alcohol bottles contain harmful levels of lead and cadmium, a new study finds

We all love to preserve a well-decorated liquor bottle. However, it comes with its own risk. Glass and enamelled decoration on bottles of beer, wines, and spirits contain harmful levels of the poisonous element including lead and cadmium, suggests a study. The study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology analysed both the glass and enamelled decorations on a variety of clear and coloured bottles readily available in shops and supermarkets. “It has always been a surprise to see such high levels of toxic elements in the products we use on a daily basis. This is just another example of that, and further evidence of harmful elements being unnecessarily used where there are alternatives available. The added potential for these substances to leach into other items during the waste and recycling process is an obvious and additional cause for concern,” Dr Andrew Turner, Associate Professor (Reader) in Aquatic Geochemistry and Pollution Science. The researchers showed that cadmium, lead, and chromium was all present in the glass, but at concentrations where their environmental and health risks were deemed to be of low significance. [caption id=“attachment_6912241” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Representational image. Credit: Needpix[/caption] However, the enamels were of greater concern, with cadmium concentrations of up to 20,000 parts per million in the decorated regions on a range of spirits, beer and wine bottles, and lead concentrations up to 80,000ppm in the decor of various wine bottles. The limit for lead in consumer paints is 90ppm. The study also showed the elements had the potential to leach from enamelled glass fragments, and when subjected to a standard test that simulates rainfall in a landfill site, several fragments exceeded the United States Model Toxins in Packaging Legislation and could be defined as ‘hazardous’. For the current research, bottles of beer, wine and spirits were purchased from local and national retail outlets between September 2017 and August 2018, with the sizes ranging from 50 ml to 750 ml. They were either clear, frosted, green, ultraviolet-absorbing green (UVAG) or brown with several being enamelled over part of the exterior surface with images, patterns, logos, text and/or barcodes of a single colour or multiple colours. Out of the glass from 89 bottles and fragments analysed using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, 76 were positive for low levels of lead and 55 positives for cadmium. Chromium was detected in all green and UVAG bottles, but was only in 40 per cent of brown glass and was never in clear glass. Meanwhile, the enamels of 12 products out of 24 enamelled products tested were based wholly or partly on compounds of either or both lead and cadmium.