The USA's Society of Glass & Ceramic Decorators (SGCD) adopted new lip & rim leaching limits for cadmium at its January 1999 board of directors meeting, & has applied pending tigher lip & rim leaching standards to glassware. The newly adopted SGCD leaching limit for cadmium from the lip & rim area (top 20mm of ware) of both glass & ceramic ware is 0.4ppm, while the increased limit for lead is 4.0ppm. The new standards will be effective for ware decorated after 31 March 1999. The current standard is 25ppm for lead & 1.75ppm for cadmium. SGCD applied the revised standards to glassware as FDA has not yet acted to ban the use of lead & cadmium in glassware lip & rim area, under consideration since May 1997. Although it is anticipated that the ban will be announced this year, it will not take effect for one year after its publication in the Federal register.
