Group warns vs drinking from toxic shot glasses sold in QC, Manila

MANILA, Philippines–A shot of liquor can give you a lethal dose of lead, according to a toxics watch group.

The EcoWaste Coalition has warned alcohol drinkers against shot glasses that may be tainted with a dangerous chemical, making drinking sprees a risky bonding ritual.

Earlier, the group found high levels of lead in 13 of 15 shot glasses painted with colorful images which it bought last week from retail stores in Manila and Quezon City.

Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Project Protect coordinator, said: “The shot glass is a key piece of the fraternal ‘tagay’ where friends take turns drinking their favorite beer or liquor using a single glass.”

According to him, “The bad news is [that] most of the shot glasses we bought and screened for harmful chemicals were positive for lead, a brain-damaging and endocrine-disrupting chemical.”

EcoWaste said that 13 shot glasses it bought at prices ranging from P6 to P94.75 contained up to 74,800 parts per million (ppm) of lead, way beyond the 90 ppm permissible limit for the toxic chemical in paints.

Of the 15 samples tested by the group using a handheld X-ray fluorescence device, only two shot glasses—one with a hand-painted calesa and the other showing a vinta—had no lead traces.