Stanley Tumblers is in for a scare, but there's no need to worry

You may have heard of the Stanley Tumbler, the hip, trendy water bottle that people camp out in front of stores or fight to get their hands on.

They have become a fashion accessory, especially since the company that makes the cups, Stanley 1913, took advantage of influencer culture to target women and skyrocket sales of the cups. The reach of the bottles has been expanded by social media users.

But social media gives and social media takes away. Several widely shared messages have appeared on it in recent weeks TikTok, Instagram, Reddit and X have increased concerns. Stanley cups may contain lead, with an X user mentioning this “The leading one.” YouTubers have also joined the fray. One TikTok video on the topic was viewed almost seven million times.

Some Stanley owners, hoping to verify the claims, began to do so use home test kits, which experts say are not reliable. a broadcast of the Stanley Cup phenomenon on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend — a skit called “Big Dumb Cups” — even mentioned the lead in passing.

The main discussion has surfaced on Facebook comment sectionssuch as in a group with more than 61,000 members called 'Stanley Cup Hunters + Drops' – for 'passionate Stanley Cup fanatics'.

One person wrote, “If we want to dress up our lead cups with a floral straw cover and a glittery bootie and show them off, let's do it!! We know they are in charge, you told us that. We do not care!”

So you might be wondering: should I throw my Stanley cup in the fireplace? (No. In fact, don't throw anything in the fireplace.) We have some answers for those of you who really want to move with the times and drink water in a fashionable way.

Do Stanley cups contain lead?

Yes, according to the company website. It says the “vacuum insulation technology,” which keeps the cup contents at an ideal temperature, uses “an industry-standard pellet to seal the vacuum insulation at the base of our products.” The sealing material, it says, “contains some lead.”

Once the bottle is sealed, Stanley says, the area is covered with a layer of stainless steel, making the pipe “inaccessible to consumers,” according to the company.

But is it dangerous?

No. Almost certainly, no.

Jack Caravanos, a public health professor at New York University who studies lead, tested three Stanley cup models of different sizes on Monday using an X-ray fluorescence detector, which determines the elements of a material.

“There are a lot of places where lead could be on a cup like that,” said Dr. Caravanos. “It can be on the inside, on the outside, on the labels, decals. And I didn't find any lead in any part of the cup – a kind of superficial lead on the surface.”

“I am an expert on global exposure,” he added. “I have done a lot of work in different products and countries. And the threat to human health is really negligible, because you won't really be putting your mouth near that surface, and it won't easily dissolve into anything that can get inside you..”

But what about the area under the stainless steel?

Before that, Dr. Caravanos that he would have to deconstruct the cup himself – certainly no easy task.

“I tried repeatedly to pry open the bottom cap with different tools but failed,” he said. 'Maybe the lead is used to close the cap. In any case, it should further reassure the public that it is highly unlikely that lead material will ever be released from the cup and made available for ingestion.”

Dr. Caravanos said that at-home tests currently on the market are not considered reliable — and that none of the tests available today have been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Although Dr. Caravanos tried a home test on a bottlenose dolphin on Tuesday morning, he still did not get a positive test.

So we're all doing well, right?

That the cups initially use any form of lead shows “poor thinking” on the part of the company, said Dr. Caravanos.

““I'm really disheartened and a little angry that a company like this is using a known toxic ingredient that is banned in many cup applications,” he said. “I mean, there certainly could have been an alternative.”

A Stanley representative referred to the explanation on the company's website describing the use of lead in the cups. But at one statement to NBC Newssaid a representative: “Our engineering and supply chain teams are making progress on innovative, alternative materials for use in the sealing process.”

Lead, that is regulated by the federal governmentis still common in the United States, especially in paint, cookware, and water flowing through lead pipes.

“There are many health effects associated with lead exposure, such as reproductive toxicity and cardiovascular disease,” said Maria Jose Talayero, a public health researcher at George Washington University. “And the one I study the most is damage to the nervous system, which results in a variety of neurological effects.”

She added: “But the fact is that other cups and other manufacturers don't use lead, so why have it in there at all?”