Are Stanley cups safe? Heres what to know about lead in drinkware.

When her husband was about to buy a Stanley mug online, Shireen Saidi of Philadelphia stopped him. The 23-year-old artist and avid runner had heard on social media that the popular cups included lead in the manufacturing process.

“I think not having lead at any point in the production process is important,” she said. “I think that an important aspect of a reusable water bottle is health and convenience.”

The colorful Stanley cups rose in popularity after becoming a social media sensation. But more recently, a number of TikTok posts have raised questions about the safety of the bottles because lead is used in the manufacturing process. Some people on TikTok are using home lead tests to swab the tumblers. Even when the results come back negative, the at-home investigations, which have millions of views, have sparked a scare among consumers.

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“There was no lead detected, but I’m not sure if I’m going to be drinking out of these from now on,” Andrianna Como, 23, who lives in Boca Raton, said in a TikTok video she posted Wednesday, after swabbing two tumblers. “It doesn’t feel right.”

Experts say the fears about lead are overblown, but some people are even recording videos throwing the beloved Stanley cups into the trash.

“It can be scary to hear that you have lead — it’s a known toxin — in a product that you’re using,” said Robert Bassett, the associate medical director of the Poison Control Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “However, we feel that this is, essentially, a nonrisk.”

We interviewed experts to learn more about how lead is used in Stanley cups and why scientists don’t believe it poses a health risk. Here’s what they had to say.

What to know

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