Google is your friend! Lead capsules were phased out in the 1990’s. If you have bottles from the nineties or earlier I would suggest wiping the neck and top of the bottle with a damp cloth.
I recall 89 as the last year but I think that means wines capsuled in 89 . . . as noted, prudent to clean off the lip of bottles from 80s and earlier before pouring.
Actually, the FDA did tests and found that there were measurable amounts of lead in the first glass or two poured. That’s what led [sic] to the ban. They found that wiping with a damp towel got rid of most of it.
Since lead is a cumulative poison, better not to take in any you don’t have to.
If you have lead capsules, please RECYCLE them (at nearby scrap place most likely), as – like mercury – you don’t want this ending up in the trash stream.
I just routinely wipe any 1990 and earlier bottle with a damp towel after cutting or removing capsule.
But I think exposure from an occasional bottle of old wine is far less than other environmental exposures, though getting rid of leaded gasoline has made a huge difference.
I’m a pretty dedicated recycler (I do food scraps and corks beside muni plastic, glass, cardboard/paper collections) but have never tried to recycle “lead” capsules. They are not pure lead (lead/tin alloy) and I doubt a scrap dealer is going to want a bag of capsules that weighs a few ounces. in my area the environmental cost of driving to a scrap dealer would certainly be worse than having a tiny bit of lead in landfill. I make a trip to county speciality recyling center a couple times a year with old electronics, CFLs, rechargable batteries but lead isn’t on their list of accepted materials. If someone could point out my error I’m willing to change.
Maybe another question to ask is ‘why do these continue to be used for wine’? Years ago, I used to take these off my bottles and mold them into a large ball, which eventually became the size of a softball, a heavy one. If just me doing this, for just my bottles, then to Markus’ point, how much waste is being generated with foil across the wine world?