Is Corelleware dangerous?

My parents owned Corelle dishes, coffee cups and cookware. Eventually, most or all of these pieces found their way to my siblings. Now, I’m reading that Corelleware of that vintage has dangerous levels of lead.

Now, there’s no question that lead in sufficient amounts, ingested or inhaled, is neurotoxic. It is especially dangerous during fetal and child development, when the central nervous system is developing. Kevin Drum, writing for Mother Jones, has published excellent research with convincing evidence that combustion of leaded gasoline was a major driver in the elevated crime rates in the US in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and its discontinuation was a major contributor to the dramatic drop in crime since then. But Corelleware? Seriously?

The primary driver of the Corelleware/lead scarelore is Tamara Rubin. She has a son who suffers the permanent effects of lead poisoning and is understandably concerned about sources of lead poisoning in the environment. However, she has never published detailed methods or statistics on her research, yet insists that lead in Corelleware manufactured prior to 2005 should not be used to cook with or eat off of. Corelle has recommended that such pieces be used for decorative purposes only, but provides no evidence of public health risks. Of course, if people stop using their old Corelleware, it creates a market for the new stuff. Smart business, but it isn't any sort of acknowledgement of hazard.

Snopes has dealt with some of this, and considers it “unproven” for now (link below).

My reaction is that, while there may be toxic levels of lead in Corelleware (and Pyrex kitchen glassware), if you are eating your plates or glassware, lead is the least of your problems. The only meaningful threat is the amounts lead that can be extracted and ingested as the result of normal use. How much lead leaches out every time you wash a plate? A single piece isn’t an infinite reservoir of lead, so eventually leachable lead should be depleted. And the lead that does leach into food is diluted by the food and liquid ingested at that meal. So what’s interesting isn’t the ppm of lead in the plate, it is the ppm of lead that enters the body. The dose makes the poison, peeps!

If you abandon using Corelleware out of an abundance of caution, that’s on you. But let’s not pretend that there’s a documented public health menace out there due to Corelleware. There isn’t.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vintage-pyrex-contains-unsafe-levels-of-lead/