Did people get lead poisoning from tinware?
People have known for centuries than lead is poisonous, causing damage to the central nervous system. It was not until the late 20th century, however, that people realized how dangerous even minute amounts of lead can be, especially to growing children. (For example, leaded solder was allowed in new plumbing in the United States until 1987.) Nonetheless, most early New Englanders took some basic precautions with tinware. Most seams were soldered on the outside rather than the inside of a container, for example, and most housewives knew not to store acidic foods and drinks, that could leach out lead, in tin containers. Also, no one in the 1830s burned leaded gasoline or disposed of lead batteries in landfills, as the modern world has done. Today we use only lead-free solder in all of our reproduction tinware.
