Mitigating Lead Exposure in Colombia: Addressing Contamination in Cookware

The Mitigating Lead Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) project seeks to reduce lead exposure in Asia, Africa, and Latin America from exposure sources such as metal and ceramic cookware, adulterated spices, environmentally unsound used lead-acid battery (ULAB) recycling, and cosmetics. The overarching objective is to assist governments and stakeholders in strengthening institutional capacities, programs, and policies to effectively assess, prioritize, and mitigate lead exposure. Project countries include Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Peru, and the Philippines.

In Peru and Colombia, project efforts will focus on measuring the concentration of lead in cookware, and the sources of contamination. 

Pure Earth’s Rapid Market Screening (RMS) project assessed lead levels in more than 5,000 samples of consumer products sold in markets in 25 countries. The project found that 45% of ceramic cookware samples and 52% of metallic cookware samples had concentrations of lead that exceeded thresholds established for each project type. The Andean Region of South America has the highest estimated mean BLLs in Latin America (e.g., 6 μg/dL in Peru) and some of the highest prevalence of lead-contaminated metallic cookware in the RMS (e.g., 69% of samples tested in Peru, 40% of samples in Colombia). For ceramics, the prevalence of lead-contaminated items was 50% of samples tested in Colombia and 42% in Peru. 

In Latin America, ceramic cookware is sometimes used for cooking, food preparation, and food service, presenting a high risk that lead will leach into food. Regulatory frameworks in the region do not always address this issue and its health implications. Furthermore, governments lack capacity to assess and monitor manufacturers, supply chains, and distributors, critical for adequate enforcement of any new or existing regulations and policies.

Project Objectives:

• Assess how much metal and ceramic cookware in Peru and Colombia exceeds national safety limits (if any)
• Identify cookware that surpasses a reasonable safety threshold and recommend regulatory limits

Project Activities:

• Map key stakeholders and cookware producers in Peru and Colombia
• Test the lead (Pb) levels of ceramic and metal cookware
• Perform a regulatory analysis of guidelines around ceramics and metal cookware
• Report findings and recommendations