The Philippines’ enviromental group EcoWaste Coalition issued a warning against buying coffee mugs bearing Christmas symbols as they may contain lead and other toxic chemicals.
The group have already analyzed 35 samples of Christmas mugs and warned shoppers against buying mugs which may contain heavy metals like antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury.
According to EcoWaste Coalitions some Christmas mugs woth P20 to P85 per piece which they purchased contained dangerous materials.
The EcoWaste Coalitions have subjected those Christmas mugs into a handheld x-ray fluorescence (XRF) chemicals analyzer last October 31, 2012 and all of the 35 samples were found to contain one or more heavy metals above allowable levels.
The 29 samples tested were found to contain lead above the 90 parts per million (ppm) US limit for lead in paint. According to Ecowaste Coalition some samples contained Arsenic, a known carcinogen and cadmium, a probable carcinogen, were detected in 35 and 31 samples respectively.
