Toxic Metal Found In Children’s Jewelry Very Dangerous

AP — It is possible that up to 90 percent of certain toys your child might be playing are laced with toxic metal. Lab testing organized by The Associated Press shows that cadmium is present in children’s jewelry — sometimes at eye-popping levels exceeding 90 percent of the item’s total weight.

Cadmium is a soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil. It is perhaps best known as one half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating, and the kind of plastic used in the manufacturing of toys.

Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports January 11, launching inquiries into high levels of cadmium in children’s jewelry, while Walmart pulled many suspect items from its store shelves.

A day after The AP documented the contamination in an investigative report, the top US consumer safety regulator warned Asian manufacturers not to substitute other toxins for lead in children’s charm bracelets and pendants.

Regulators and lawmakers reacted swiftly to the report. Congress previously clamped down on lead in those products in 2008, but cadmium is even more harmful.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also said his office would investigate cadmium content in some products, particularly costume jewelry. Mr Blumenthal would not say whether he is investigating particular merchants. Rather than “singling out any stores, we’re interested in any retail outlets that sell jewelry that may have cadmium,” he said.

Lab tests were conducted on 103 pieces of low-price children’s jewelry such as charm bracelets and pendants purchased around the country. Virtually all were imported from China.

Twelve items had cadmium levels of at least 10 percent by weight. One piece had a startling 91 percent, and others contained more than 80 percent. The government has no restrictions on cadmium in jewelry.

Children can be exposed by sucking or biting such jewelry. But without direct exposure, most people do not experience its worst effects: cancer, kidneys that leak vital protein, and bones that spontaneously snap.

The worrisome results came in tests of bracelet charms sold at Walmart stores, at the jewelry chain Claire’s and at a Dollar N More store. High amounts of cadmium also were detected in The Princess and The Frog movie-themed pendants.

Melissa Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, called the findings “troubling.” She said the company, which is the world’s largest retailer, had a special responsibility “to take swift action, and we are doing so.”

Members of Congress voiced anger about the imports. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said he is reviewing the law that regulates such substances to decide if a fix is needed.

“Parents will be outraged to learn certain jewelry makers overseas thought they could pull a fast one at the expense of our kids’ safety,” said Democratic Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who has championed stronger rules for children’s products.

Most people get a microscopic dose of the heavy metal just by breathing and eating. Plants, including tobacco, take up cadmium through their roots and people absorb it during digestion or inhalation, but that is not considered direct exposure.

Cadmium is particularly dangerous for children because growing bodies readily absorb substances, and cadmium accumulates in the kidneys for decades.

“Just small amounts of chemicals may radically alter development,” said Dr Robert O. Wright, a professor at Harvard University’s medical school and school of public health. “I can’t even fathom why anyone would allow for even a small amount to be accessible.”

Recent research by Dr Wright found that as cadmium exposure increased, kids were more likely to report learning disabilities.

Dr Aimin Chen of the University of Cincinnati’s medical school also has studied how cadmium affects young brains. While lead is the heavy metal most associated with harming cognitive development, Dr Chen has concluded that cadmium lowers IQ even more than lead — though cadmium is not harming the average American child because the typical exposure is not as large as lead.

Scientists do not know how much cadmium it takes to kill a child. The only child’s death attributed to cadmium that AP found was a nearly 3-year-old boy from Toronto.

According to a case study published in 1994, an autopsy showed his brain had swollen; the researchers concluded his exposure came from items around his home such as paint pigments, batteries, or cadmium-electroplated utensils.