Toxic Metal Found in Kids' Jewelry

by Tom Henderson (Subscribe to Tom Henderson's posts) Jan 12th 2010 4:00PM

Categories: Safety, Medical Conditions, In The News, Alerts & Recalls

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Chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer found high levels of a toxic metal in this "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" charm. Credit: Tony Dejak, AP

First it was lead. Now authorities are alarmed about the amount of another toxic metal, cadmium, found in children's toys made in China.

Officials at the Consumer Products Safety Commission are investigating. Meanwhile, executives at Wal-Mart are pulling some possibly toxic products off the shelves.

All this comes after an Associated Press investigation that examined 103 pieces of children's jewelry made in China and sold in the United States in November and December of last year. The wire service reports that 12 percent of the items contained at least 10 percent cadmium.

Pendants based on Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" contained 25 to 35 percent of the toxic metal. A "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" charm was 91 percent cadmium.

The inexpensive metal is known to cause cancer, Dr. Philip Landrigan tells CBS News.

"It's a nasty toxic metal and, in my opinion, has no place in children's toys -- none," he says. Landrigan works for the Department of Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Cadmium can do more than cause cancer, Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhamer, a professor of chemistry at Ashland University in Ohio, tells CBS News. "There's recent research indicating that it can cause learning disabilities and permanent loss of I.Q.," he says.

Weidenhamer conducted tests on the jewelery at the request of the AP. He tells CBS News the cadmium levels revealed by the AP investigation are "appalling."

Toy manufacturers are barred from using lead in their products. They're apparently turning to cadmium as a cheap alternative, consumer advocate Liz Hitchcock tells CBS News. She works for U.S. PIRG [Public Interest Research Group].

"It's outrageous that an industry that's been told that it can no longer use a toxic chemical like lead in products turns to another toxic chemical, cadmium, a known carcinogen, to use in the same products," she says.

Cadmium is banned from paint on children's toys under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The law came on the heels of a scandal a year earlier exposing dangerous amounts of lead in Chinese-made toys. But the law doesn't affect jewelry.

In a statement released to the press, Consumer Product Safety Commission officials say they are moving swiftly to protect children.

Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum is scheduled to deliver a speech in Hong Kong this week where she will warn Chinese manufacturers "the bar will be raised in the new year" regarding product safety.

High time, Hitchcock tells CBS News. "American manufacturers, whether they make their product in Bayonne or Beijing, have a responsibility to keep toxic substances out of the hands of our children," she says.

Products found containing dangerous amounts of cadmium included:

Three flip-flop bracelet charms sold at Wal-Mart (84 and 86 percent cadmium).
Four charms from two "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" bracelets sold at Dollar N More in Rochester, N.Y. (82 and 91 percent cadmium).
Two charms on a "Best Friends" bracelet sold at Claire's, an international chain of jewelry stories (89 and 91 percent cadmium).
Pendants from four "The Princess and The Frog" necklaces sold bought at Wal-Mart (25 and 35 percent cadmium).

Related: Lead Exposure Tied to ADHD Symptoms

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rebecca 1-12-2010 @ 9:09PM

Is there a way to have other items tested for traces of cadmium?

LS 1-13-2010 @ 9:51AM

There's a better way to handle this, people... and you know what it is, even if you don't want to admit it.

Get after your Federal Representatives. MAKE them listen to you.

Our corporations are taxed at such ridiculously high rates that it's cheaper for them to have all of our products made by slave labor in China. Even those who are not slaves are paid ridiculously low wages, have poor working conditions, and not even the ‘horrible’ health care that we have in this country.

But we continue to buy this crap because 1) it’s cheap, 2) we have no impulse control, 3) we perceive that we neeeeeed it. All three of these lead to number 4: we have no choice. We continue to buy the crap from China, even though time and time again, we’ve recalled their crap, and fined them, and made a hue and cry – for what? What, really, has the stupid CPSC done, except make everybody freaked out about lead in everything? Oh, yes. They’ve made it nearly impossible for mom-and-pop stores, and “homemade” businesses to function, because of the ridiculous restrictions they’ve placed not only on the finished product, but on the individual pieces that make up the whole – thanks to the CPSC (who has suspended, but not eliminated the requirement) makers MUST not only test the individual ingredients of their products (each skein of yarn, not even the entire lot – EACH SKEIN), they must then have the entire product tested AND CERTIFIED before they can sell it. Who can afford this? So they must go out of business, because Wal-Mart and other big-box stores and major corporations can afford to either have the testing done or pay the stupid fine if they don’t.

So… back to what we CAN do.

First, STOP BUYING THE CRAP. Look at the labels. Don’t buy stuff from China. Try – and I know how incredibly hard it is – to buy stuff with a label on it that says “Made in the USA”. Buy Fair-Trade goods. Research where products are made and how they’re made. If the practices meet your standards – if the working conditions are humane, the products are good, and the profits are not feeding a corrupt regime – then buy them. But KNOW. EDUCATE yourself. It’s not easy. It requires sacrifice.

Second, contact your representatives – and make yourself a pest. MAKE them listen to you, and if they don’t, VOTE THEM OUT. The corruption on Capitol Hill, and even at some state and local levels, is pathetic, and it’s up to us to change that.

Contact them. Tell them that it is imperative that they reduce – or remove altogether – the taxes on manufacturers here in the U.S. that drive industry from our shores. I’m not saying “no taxes on corporations”, I’m saying, “make them fair, and allow them to function.” If we bring these manufacturers back, we will increase our own revenue, create REAL jobs (not the fictional “jobs saved or created” that the current administration touts), and see to it that the products our children and our families use are quality products, and not full of lead and other toxins.

It’s time that we put our OWN people back to work, and stop shipping our precious dollars off shore. It’s time we started taking responsibility for the way our products are made, instead of remaining the victims of “oh, there’s lead in that! Imagine that. What’s the fine? Here’s the check” business as usual that exists today.

But it requires you. You must be active. YOU must get out there, and join the fight.

******

Thanks to AOL's puzzling "anti-spam" policy, it would not allow me to post a link about slavery around the world. I say "puzzling" because I regularly see lengthy ads on this site, which are never removed. Seems as though their "anti-spam" program isn't working.

Anyway, if you wish to know where I get my information to accuse China of slavery, please visit the very worthy charity entitled "Free the Slaves."

You may find them by visiting freetheslaves.net.