Among social media’s most sinister elements — providing a platform for misinformation, encouraging trolling, setting unrealistic ideals — is the crime of foisting this Stanley cup fanaticism upon us. It was TikTok in particular that fanned the flames for a $45 40 oz stainless steel water bottle, anointing the Quencher model the one true cup. People ran amok at Target stores to snatch limited edition colors (red and pink) and a woman in California was recently arrested for stealing 65 Stanleys from a single store. Well, TikTok crowneth, and TikTok taketh away. Online videos have been popping up claiming that Stanley cups have lead in them, so many that reps for Stanley have responded with a formal statement:
Stanley’s Quencher cup has become a viral sensation over the past year — to the point that customers are door-busting department stores and stampeding down aisles to get their hands on limited-edition colors. However, safety concerns about the trendy tumblers have surfaced online, and Stanley sent a firm message regarding claims its cups contain lead.
A rep for Stanley recently dispelled speculation in a statement to WCNC Charlotte.
“Please rest assured that no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes in contact with you or the contents of your container,” the rep told the publication. “Every Stanley product meets all U.S. regulatory requirements, including California Proposition 65, which requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about heavy metal and chemical exposure.”
The statement from Stanley comes after a number of videos on TikTok and other social media platforms claimed its cups have lead in them.
“So just confirmed that the Stanley is leaded,” one TikTok user captioned a video from March 2023. In the clip, she used a LeadCheck swab that turned pink after making contact with the bottom of a Stanley cup — indicating the lead present is bioavailable.
Similar videos showed tests with the same result, while others indicated no lead was present.
Thankfully, Stanley stans have nothing to worry about. Customers can continue enjoying and collecting their favorite lead-free beverage containers to their hearts’ content.
I’ve watched a sampling of these TikTok videos now and have a few thoughts. Let’s start with the lead tests themselves — in the videos I saw, the test kits fly by too fast to ID them, nor are they tagged or identified by the creators. The particular test kit is worth noting because there are only three that the EPA recognizes, so I would want the kit confirmed up front. Another critical factor is what part of the cup is tested. Some people were swabbing inside the cups, a good place as the presence of lead there would obviously contaminate the beverage you’re drinking. That would be bad. But some people were testing a small spot on the bottom of the cup, and those tests confirmed the presence of lead. But it’s not the Aha! moment the Tiktokkers think it is. Because Stanley plainly states on their FAQ page that their bottles use “an industry standard pellet to seal the vacuum insulation at the base,” and that piece includes some lead. But the pellet is covered by stainless steel, meaning it truly is protected from touching your drink. And if for some reason the pellet does become exposed on the bottom, it can be replaced under Stanley’s lifetime warranty.
Apparently it’s an old manufacturing practice to use lead to solder the vacuum seal between the layers of an insulated cup. But plenty of companies are starting to use different methods to seal these cups because… lead is dangerous! If we don’t want it in paint on our walls, why would it be ok to have it so close to our drinking water? There are no safe levels of lead, and it’s considered even more toxic to children because lead stays and grows in the body. It’s good to hear that Stanley is confident in the strength of their seals, and that they’re willing to replace the seal should the pellet become exposed. Long term, though, I’d say it’s time (if not past it) for them to switch practices.
Viral takedown campaigns can be problematic, but this is absolutely 100% worth our attention.
This isn’t just a Stanley issue – Yeti cups are made this way too, as are myriad other thermal insulated cups. MEANING: IF YOUR CUP IS DAMAGED, DINGED, BENT OR WHATEVER, IT COULD BE LEECHING LEAD INTO YOUR DRINKING WATER. Therefore, to be able to use a cup like this and NOT risk lead poisoning, you’d have to get rid of it the second you drop it or it gets a ding. Any return or replacement policies aside, which I’m sure vary by company, how does this reduce what ends up in a landfill in any way, one of the most important reasons to use a reusable cup like this in the first place!
Bottom line, there are alternative ways to produce these cups, so why are companies still allowed to use a method that can literally give people lead poisoning? Consumers should not be responsible for this, the company should. Same with Roundup 100% causing cancer and having legal litigation backing up that claim – so why can they still sell it, when it’s poisoning our bodies and the planet? Because someone somewhere is making money, so who cares if some peasants die. Ugh, I hate it here.
100% agree.
Also, what was with Parade’s conclusion, “Customers can continue enjoying and collecting their favorite lead-free beverage containers”?
They JUST quoted the Stanley rep saying there IS lead in the cups, you just won’t come into contact with it (under normal, non-broken/dropped/dented/whatever usage). That is NOT the same as “lead-free” – for all the reasons you point out, @Sunday. Did the journalist even read their own article or was that an AI generated conclusion paragraph?!
Some metal bottles also have a resin coating inside that contains bfa. I think the cleanest option is glass.
Anyway SNL did a sketch on the Stanley cup craze called ˋmy big dumb cup’ or something like that. Lol
SNL Big Dumb Cup (combined with a Big Dumb Hat) skit this weekend was about the only good thing in the show. The Amy Schumer Big Dumb Hats from a few years ago was hilarious and on point and so was this sketch!
At not to hijack, but JT was meh…..
Yea off topic but Dakota is a bit wooden imo and the writing was not good
Funny how people are up in arms about lead in a $50 cup but not the lead in the water pipes around the country.
Very true. Or the nano-plastics and micro-plastics that have been found in our water and food supplies. It says a lot about who gets publicly valued — if only/primarily as consumers — and who and what are not.
I mean, people are up in arms about that too. I think most of us would prefer no lead around any of our drinking water.
There she is in the story header photo. The cliche. Big hat, blond beach waves and make up applied with a spatula.
“Big…dumb…hat…”
“This is the hat that makes your boyfriend say “It’s me or the hat” “.
I don’t know of any adult who licks the bottom of their cups. The lead on the outside is not going to harm you. If a drop or ding somehow loosens the solder plug, then the vacuum will be lost and the cup won’t insulate anymore. Which you’ll quickly notice when your hand gets hot or your ice melts in an hour. I hate the fact that educating the public about any kind of real risk always ends up turning into a poorly-understood boogeyman.
There’s a reason that industry still uses lead and it’s not just because it’s cheaper, but because the alternatives require different kind of compromises that just don’t work as well. If they knew of something better, they’d already be using it. If only because as we see here, people get all worked up about lead.
The microplastics that get shed each time you screw on that plastic lid or suck through the plastic straw should be a much much bigger concern than lead. Note, that’s along with the plastic pipes that the water flows through before it gets to the tap. We’re going to look back on the plastic in our water the way people look back on lead pipes in ancient Rome. We mostly know how to mitigate the risks when using lead but we’re only just barely beginning to discover how toxic plastic is.