Due to widespread issues with lead poisoning occurring from ceramics, regulations were introduced in the 1970's and 80's. Limits were set to make sure too much lead (and cadmium) didn't leach from the ceramics and poison people. This post summarises all the research I've been doing into not only the New Zealand regulations, but how they compare to the international ones, and the history of all of it. This information focuses only on lead (ignoring cadmium), and more on mugs than plates. This is also a work in progress, and will be updated if/when I find out more information. USA Regulations Anderson et al has this great introduction for this topic in her paper : "The U.S. FDA regulates lead content in ceramics used with foods, and in mugs specifically. In 1970, the FDA conducted a survey of imported pottery and found “high levels” of lead leaching from the products (USFDA 1979a , p. 51237). The FDA instituted a compliance program for domestic and international po