Press Releases

Attorney General Settles Claims Of Lead In Drinking Glasses

CONTACT: Elliot Burg, Assistant Attorney General, (802) 828-5507

July 25, 2011

A Salt Lake City-based company will pay the State of Vermont $10,000 to settle claims by the Attorney General’s Office that it imported drinking glasses into Vermont from China and Indonesia that contained excessive levels of lead. Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell noted, “Lead is highly toxic, particularly to young children. There is no excuse for putting drinking glasses on the market that contain lead.” The settlement is with Vandor, LLC.

Independent laboratory testing found that 9 glasses out of 15 Vandor glasses and mugs contained lead concentrations of between 14 and 81 times the state limit of 100 parts per million (ppm) of lead for children’s products as defined under Vermont law. The 9 glasses also contained the heavy metal cadmium, although at much lower levels.

The following is a description of the illustrations on the high-lead glasses and the lead concentration for each:

Gone with the Wind glass no. 1—4,831 parts per million (ppm)
Gone with the Wind glass no. 2—4,191 ppm
Elvis Presley tumbler—7,345 ppm
Elvis Presley glass (white)—1,443 ppm
Elvis Presley glass (black)—2,935 ppm
Elvis Presley “All Shook Up” glass—4,216 ppm
Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” glass—4,109 ppm
Elvis Presley “Love Me Tender” glass—4,066 ppm
Elvis Presley “Burning Love” glass—8,174 ppm

Under the settlement, Vandor may not sell any children’s product in or into Vermont, including decorated glasses and mugs, unless a representative sample of the items from each manufacturing run has met certain low limits for lead and cadmium. The settlement also requires Vandor to report on its test results; to terminate suppliers who produce more than a de minimis number of non-compliant products; to remove any high-lead or high-cadmium products from store shelves in Vermont; and to permit any consumer who has purchased a Vandor decorated glass to return the product to the retailer for a full refund.