Afghan pressure cooker lead poisoning

[C_Claycomb]

Just saw an article in the Telegraph describing how Afghans are being poisoned through lead leaching from their pressure cookers, made of low grade, contaminated, recycled metal.

Research showing the same can be found elsewhere, and was reported on years ago, but this was the first I had heard and searching here didn’t show it as something discussed.

Public Health Advisory Related to Aluminum Afghan Kazan Pressure Cookers

BOSTON – May 16, 2023 – The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) has issued a public health advisory related to the danger of lead exposure from the use of certain traditional aluminum cookpots, known as Afghan pressure cookers or Kazan pressure cookers. The lead contamination was first...

www.boston.gov

Investigating aluminum cookpots as a source of lead exposure in Afghan refugee children resettled in the United States - PubMed

Some aluminum cookware brought from Afghanistan by resettled families as well as cookpots available for purchase in the United States represent a previously unrecognized source of lead exposure.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Evaluating metal cookware as a source of lead exposure - Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology

We previously demonstrated that aluminum cookware brought from Afghanistan by resettled families as well as some aluminum cookware available for purchase in the United States represent a previously unrecognized source of lead exposure. However, the extent to which this cookware represents a...

www.nature.com

 

[Herman30]

Prooves I' m not wrong in using stainless pots only.

 

[matarius777]

Interesting, ever since I watched Simon in the Woods’ video where he made a meal using one- the first time I’d seen it, I wanted one, it just looked really cool and steam punkish! I’ve just resisted because I have a perfectly servicable one, that is actually meant to be for curries, it has the same shape as Indian cooking pots- a wide belly and narrow top to prevent steam loss, plus it has two pressure settings, the lower one perfect for dhals (which can burn easily). Although it is aluminium, it’s made by Prestige, so hopefully safe! After hearing about the lead, I’ll cross it off the list, although I can imagine there may well be a few appearing on eBay pretty soon!

 

[matarius777]

Prooves I' m not wrong in using stainless pots only.

I love my cast iron and copper pans, got rid of most of my alumium ones ages ago, apart from my trusty Indian style pressure cooker (Prestige).

 

[Falstaff]

I've avoided ally pans etc for years, based in the advice of my parents,( right or wrong,) about dementia and leaching into foods.
However, I didn't know there was any lead in aluminium, quick search finds it's added to aid workability. In the western world non-lead alternatives are now used.

 

[matarius777]

I've avoided ally pans etc for years, based in the advice of my parents,( right or wrong,) about dementia and leaching into foods.
However, I didn't know there was any lead in aluminium, quick search finds it's added to aid workability. In the western world non-lead alternatives are now used.

Supposedly the aluminium/ dementia thing has been debunked, I would be more worried about non-stick finishes, having seen a documentary about it and how they lied to their female staff, who were having offspring with birth defects.

 

[Laurentius]

I have had people tell me I should not drink cider out of Pewter tankards. Well even if it were old style pewter, the cider is not going to be in the tankard long enough to dissolve enough lead to do any real harm.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I've avoided ally pans etc for years, based in the advice of my parents,( right or wrong,) about dementia and leaching into foods.
However, I didn't know there was any lead in aluminium, quick search finds it's added to aid workability. In the western world non-lead alternatives are now used.

In this case the the high lead content is likely exacerbated by melting things like Babbit bearings, batteries and soldered components in with the aluminium.

 

[Falstaff]

Supposedly the aluminium/ dementia thing has been debunked, I would be more worried about non-stick finishes, having seen a documentary about it and how they lied to their female staff, who were having offspring with birth defects.

Absolutely - they all slowly wear off and the bits usually end up in the food without being noticed. All the current finishes use the forever plastic materials, nasty stuff. Too late for me, my parents used non-stick for years.
I mainly use a cast iron frypan with an oil/salt finish. However, it also used to be non-stick but most of it came off, I must have eaten some of it before I noticed. Then I removed as much as I could of the rest.
I know the aluminium thing has been officially debunked, but I'm not convinced by the research, there are too many "confounding factors" as the pharma research call it.

 

[oldtimer]

I've been using aluminium mess tins and pots all my life and at 83 next birthday I've still got all my marbles. (Now, where did I put them?)

 

[matarius777]

Absolutely - they all slowly wear off and the bits usually end up in the food without being noticed. All the current finishes use the forever plastic materials, nasty stuff. Too late for me, my parents used non-stick for years.
I mainly use a cast iron frypan with an oil/salt finish. However, it also used to be non-stick but most of it came off, I must have eaten some of it before I noticed. Then I removed as much as I could of the rest.
I know the aluminium thing has been officially debunked, but I'm not convinced by the research, there are too many "confounding factors" as the pharma research call it.

Same here with non-stick, although I tend to avoid it on principle anyway. My grandma bought one of the first Tefal saucepans when they first came out, she also used a metal spoon in it and by the time she passed way, maybe 10 or 15 years later, it was bare metal apart from the room! In the documentary, some researchers found that over 90%, maybe 96% of people worldwide had the tefal chemical PPFE (whatever it’s called) in their blood, basically it’s so ubiquitous, even used on clothing to make it stay cleaner. You just can’t escape it.

 

[Pattree]

In the seventies I put a couple of eggs in a non stick pan for a picnic…….. and forgot about them.
We came back and found two exploded very hard boiled eggs, a wrecked non stick pan and the canary was dead.

I have no problem at all with aluminium, my bigger Kelly Kettle is made of it. I also have no issue with chipped enamel, something that my mother was scared of to the point of superstition.

I didn’t know about the manufacture of some aluminium. I’ll need to research that but remain unfazed.

Nowadays:
Stainless steel (nearly) every time. I even made bread in a zebra pot recently.

 

[robur]

I fancied one of those ubiquitous Afghan pressure cookers some time ago.

After looking into it it seems they use recycled engine blocks which do contain high levels of lead so I avoided getting one.

There is plenty out there on the net about the problem, even to the point where a food safety quango looked into it and confirmed the problem

Ade

 

[TLM]

Not knowing but I strongly suspect that the problem is with cast items where you can throw almost anything into the crucible.

 

[matarius777]

In the seventies I put a couple of eggs in a non stick pan for a picnic…….. and forgot about them.
We came back and found two exploded very hard boiled eggs, a wrecked non stick pan and the canary was dead.

I have no problem at all with aluminium, my bigger Kelly Kettle is made of it. I also have no issue with chipped enamel, something that my mother was scared of to the point of superstition.

I didn’t know about the manufacture of some aluminium. I’ll need to research that but remain unfazed.

Nowadays:
Stainless steel (nearly) every time. I even made bread in a zebra pot recently.

Plumbers get “plumber’s flu” off they breathe in the PPF whatever it is thread tape when soldering. Because a birds respiration and circulation is far, far faster than ours, the fumes kill them. The lady worker at the factory (who had a baby with severe defects) described a multitude of thumps on the roof after the Gortex factory vented off gas from the vats of PTFwhatever it is. It was a flock of birds flying overhead, dropping dead out of the sky! That’s why your budgerigar died.

 

[Wayne]

I think on the rare occasions I use my Afghan pot. The issue is lead contamination would be minimal. Everyday use several times daily might be more worrying.

 

[TLM]

Plumbers get “plumber’s flu” off they breathe in the PPF whatever

It is various fluorine compounds that are the problem in that case. One just does not heat up PTFE coatings too much (without having problems). Some of the ceramic coatings are not a problem in cook ware.

 

[aris]

Even fancy French cookware company Matfer Bourgreat has had an issue where certain heavy metals exceeded safety limits in their carbon steel pans

Matfer Bourgeat Carbon Steel Pans Recalled In France (What We Know)

French regulators issued a recall on April 17th for Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel pans. During routine testing, the pans released levels of iron, chromium, and arsenic that exceeded safety limits. The recall is only in France for now, but the affected pans are the same ones sold in the USA and...

prudentreviews.com

 

[TLM]

Citric acid tends to form chemical complexes with many metals so it is no wonder. Also I am slightly wondering why it would be a problem steel pan releasing iron, any steel anywhere is going to do that (excluding some SS that release very little). Most steels made from scrap contain some chromium but arsenic is not often used in steel as it causes some undesirable properties. Maybe cleaner steel should be used.

Boiling almost anything in citric acid for 2 hours will get interesting results.

 

[aris]

Arsenic is most certainly not a component of steel - it is an unwanted contaminant which usually makes its way into the steel making process from scrap. Scrap metal is used in the steel making process as a coolant to quickly bring the temperature of the molten steel down during the manufacturing process. Arsenic can also be a trace element of the ore itself.

Basically when choosing the metals you use for cooking implements - choose wisely! One has to wonder what's in the metals of cooking implements we get from certain parts of the world.