Carter interviewed California executives from the almond, beef, cotton, grape, orange and wine industries. In the September-October issue of California Agriculture, he reports finding no compelling evidence that the Asian financial crisis had a significant negative impact in general on the export of these key California commodities. In addition, Japan and Hong Kong continued to import similar quantities from California throughout the crisis. While the rest of the country suffered losses in grain and oilseed exports, California is not highly dependent on these crops so its growers adjust more quickly to shifts in foreign demand. Lead leaching in ceramics difficult to predict More than half of the ceramic ware made in Mexico tested positive for lead leaching.
Lead toxicity is recognized to be much more widespread than once believed.
As a result, more children are considered to be at greater risk of suffering adverse effects from lead exposure. Lead can be found throughout our environment - in soil, paint manufactured before 1978, water, leaded gasoline, and paints and glazes used in the production of ceramic ware. Paint and soil are common sources of lead exposure. In some cases, lead in tableware can cause lead poisoning, also called plumbism. Even though the amount of lead ingested after it leaches into food is generally very low, researchers have found that plumbism can result from continual use of ceramic ware leaching lead at high rates.