Stainless Steel Safety of a Rusty Kamjove

Drats. Even after less than a month of use, I noticed these rust spots inside my new Kamjove teapot at work. Cheap Chinese stainless steel strikes again. Probably not enough nickel. This teapot is most likely the lowest grade 200 series stainless  steel. I'm resigned to such low quality steel by now as the cookware market is flooded with 'em.  I haplessly thought my blood cells need extra iron from the rust but the sad reality is that the body cannot use such inorganic forms of iron. Overusing a tetsubin is probably a road to kidney and gall stones.

Many people assume quality stainless steel is completely inert.  Even high quality food grade stainless steel (18/10 and 18/8) still leaches out trace amounts of iron, chromium, manganese and nickel- all "supposedly" in safe amounts.   But the hexvalent form of chromium in stainless steel is not the form that the human body uses. Double drats. You could go for a glass kettle if you want to keep your water pure but most likely your water traveled some distance in steel pipes if you use tap water.

Modern life is so full of uncontrollable chemical complexities. I spend a lot of time trying to avoid synthetic estrogens in plastic but in reality if you eat out a lot like me, you have to accept you have little control of what happens to your food before it reaches your gullet. Most restaurants store foods commonly in plastic tubs.  Suppliers to restaurants also package foods in plastic. The taint of plastic is nigh impossible to avoid in the modern food chain.

I bought this cheap Kamjove in full knowledge of the risks.  I'll keep using this teapot. It's definitely safer than a Roman leaded pewter pitcher and to be preferred over a kettle with plastic parts.