Italian Ceramic / Porcelain Tiles and Glaze

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QUESTION: Italian Ceramic/ Porcelain Tiles and Glaze, 20 Dec 2005, Western Australia

This might sound like a strange question, but I would not have imagined lead was contained in some dinner sets as part of the ceramic glaze until I read about it. Since I'm about to tile my house throughout it occurred to me to wonder are ceramic tiles a potential source of lead exposure in the same way that lead paint is? (ie. lead dust erosion from the surface of the tile as occurs with lead paint). And if so, does this apply to the more expensive Italian type tiles too?

ANSWER: 19 Dec 2005

Dear Madam,

May I elaborate on my answer to your previous request by following up for you your latest inquiry about tiles.

For information regarding the adherence of Italian ceramic/ porcelain tiles to ISO standards in lead content, you should find the following document by Richard Bowman in TileTodayAsia, Issue # 2 very useful. This article may be accessed at the following site:

www.infotile.com.au/magazines/tiletodayAsia/current/feature-2.pdf

Regards,
Giuseppina Tesoriero, Volunteer Information Officer,