A New Study Reveals Some Disturbing Information About The Cleanliness Of Pint Glasses

When on a night out, the cleanliness of our beer receptacles is not usually top of the priority list.

But a new study from the University of Plymouth has revealed some disturbing information that might make us want to rethink that.

According to the research, drinking glasses can potentially have toxic levels of lead and soft metal, cadmium.

197 tests were carried out by the researchers on 72 new and second-hand drinking glass products which included beer and wine glasses, tumblers and jars.

They found high levels of lead present in 139 cases and cadmium in 134 which were found on the surfaces of the glasses and also the rims.

Some cases of lead was found to be 1000 times higher than the limit level.

Tests also showed that flakes of paint often came away from the glass under when simulating sustained use which indicates that the substances could be ingested over a prolonged period.

Dr Andrew Turner, who lead the study, said:

“The presence of hazardous elements in both the paint and glaze of decorated glassware has obvious implications for both human health and the environment. So it was a real surprise to find such high levels of lead and cadmium, both on the outside of the glassware and around the rim.

"There are genuine health risks posed through ingesting such levels of the substances over a prolonged period, so this is clearly an issue that the international glassware industry needs to take action on as a matter of urgency.”

Maybe we should look at how clean our pint glasses seem before drinking them...