ConsumerWatch: SF Chinatown Shop Removes Dishware Over Lead
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- A store in San Francisco's Chinatown has stopped selling dishware that is leaching unsafe levels of lead, following a CBS 5 ConsumerWatch investigation.
Last month, CBS 5 Consumerwatch purchased and tested more than a dozen pieces of imported dishware from four stores that cater to ethnic communities. The Food and Drug Administration followed up with visits to each store. The agency's inspectors found items of concern at one store on Grant Street in Chinatown.
Further testing found unsafe levels of lead leaching from 10 out of 29 pieces of dishware the FDA purchased from the Grant Street store. Inspectors then returned to the store, and spoke with the store owner, who has taken the items off the shelves and destroyed them.
The FDA says the dishware could cause harm because lead is a toxin that accumulates in the body.
>>More Information About Lead in Dishes
>>Free Lead Testing - Center for Environmental Health
"You need to be concerned when you're using it day in and day out," said FDA Regional Director Barbara Cassens.
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