Is there anything that is chemically safe to drink out of? Like a 30 oz tumbler?

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[–][deleted] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

The absolute safest thing would be a glass tumbler, they usually come with a silicone sleeve so they dont break as easy, you can get ones with bamboo lids too to totally avoid plastics. Glass is totally inert and chemically safe, definitely the gold standard

Stainless steel is also probably safe enough if you get a good brand, though some cheap steels often have lead contaminants.

Aluminum and plastic I'd totally stay away from

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Thank Phooey. I thought the same thing, I’m linking and citing an article, but my thought is that the glass in the tumbler, is from China, and thus tainted?

May you please give your opinion on glass possibly being tainted?

GLASS

Glass material is not all safe either. Glass has been known to be the safest material to store food. I store all my food in glass.

However, Dr Andrew Turner of the University of Plymouth, UK tested a range of glass products and more than 70 percent of the 72 products tested contained lead and cadmium. These toxicant were found in both the paint and glaze of decorated glassware and both on the outside of the glassware and around the rim.

Normally, lead is not put into the glass as an ingredient to make a glass product. The only glass product that is made of lead is leaded crystal. Leaded crystal is dangerous since it can leach large amount of lead. Storing an acidic drink such as wine in leaded crystal wouldn’t be a good idea. Usually, soda lime glass or borosilicate glass is used in most glassware. Since lead and cadmium are found in glass when it is colored or painted with decorations, avoid glassware with the paint or decorations. Plain, clear glass would be the best option.

https://gonewmommy.com/2018/08/12/non-toxic-dinnerware/

So basically it’s not in the glass tumblers? Is that your take?

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

So it looks like glass itself is still safe, with a caveat that I did not think of, because it looks like an alarming number of these glass products apply paints and glazes that contain heavy metals, which are definitely not safe. I would probably do some more research about the brands that make these products and find out which ones you can confirm are not applying toxic coatings to their glass.

My take is the glass tumbler is safe as long as its just a glass tumbler with nothing else - basic borosilicate glass is chemically inert if it is 100% uncoated, uncontaminated borosilicate glass. Which is why chemistry experiments are always done in glass, it doesn't get any more inert than that

And no, lead crystal glass is not safe, but that stuff is usually really old and decorative, its also extremely heavy, and generally called 'crystal' rather than glass, even though as the author of that piece points out, it is technically a glass, though I've never seen it labeled like this

[–]Musky 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

basic borosilicate glass is chemically inert

Mostly, it can leach boron out under some conditions but supposedly it's safe and maybe even healthy since boron is an essential element.

[–]Rah 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Its still safe if it belongs with old wares that you take out of the drawer once every four months or so for specific occasions. Not as a day-to-day ware, though.

[–]Musky 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's an interesting link. I didn't realize how frequently dinnerware contains lead or cadmium. That seems a little insane. I don't have much else to add though, I agree your best bet is a plain glass tumbler from a reputable domestic manufacturer. I use stainless steel sometimes too, which is not perfect, especially for very hot or acidic beverages, but I mean hell, I cook in with stainless. And I do see the chromium leaching. Iron and nickel too but you can't see them. The studies are conflicting how harmful it is, but a lot more is going to come from cooking with it than drinking water from it.

[–]SoCo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The only glass and ceramics with lead or other heavy metals will be really old antique stuff, the occasional sketchy item from China, and things made to be decorative but not really eaten from. If it was clear, modern glass, I'd expect the chances of having bad stuff to be very low.

I suspect it would be hard to find a glass tumbler, though. I struggled to find a 1 gal pitcher just the way I wanted in glass. For your tumbler's size, it would have to be Pyrex (borosilicate based) and pretty dang thick to be tough enough. It would still be breakable, although tough, but a outer sleeve would help. The real problem, which may make manufactures not offer good options made in glass, is that it would be quite heavy.

I'd guess the only real option for a tumbler would be stainless steel. That's what I've gone with. Sometimes they even like to coat some metal containers with form of invisible plastic liner on the inside now, but I don't know how common that'd be. They do that for tin cans and stuff, especially with acidic contents that might degrade the metal over time. I'd suspect the a container intended for "hot" drinks as well might be inherently not suitable for such a plastic lining.

[–]neovulcan 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I've started using wheat straw cups. Not sure they live up to their advertising, but I figure it's worth the shot. Can't afford to risk glass falling and breaking with dogs and kids knocking things around all the time.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Uranium Glass

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nope! You are already dying and not much you can do about it. Hehehe

[–]KyleIsThisTall 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

iridium

[–]gardella 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

ball glass jars are great: Ball

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think that’s what I’m going to use. Thank you.