[A wine pitcher, cause of lead poisoning]

A 35-year-old male nurse hospitalized for recurrent episodes of intolerable abdominal pain was found to have non-hemolytic anemia and saturnism with blood lead level reaching 500 micrograms/l. Search for the source of the lead led to the discovery of an earthenware jug purchased in a Corsica craftsware shop. This jug had been used to hold the patient's daily consumption of wine (estimated at one-half to three-quarters liters per day) in the refrigerator. On the basis of lead release measurements using the method described in the EEC directive 84/500 (maximum tolerated limit for crockery = 4 mg lead/litter contents), it was found that the jug released 216 mg/l and estimated that the patient had ingested 0.8 to 1 mg of soluble lead daily for the past 8 years. The patient was successfully treated with chelator agents. This case of lead poisoning caused by a single earthenware wine jug confirms the need for rigourous governmental directives to control the production and distribution of varnished earthenware.