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    Toxic metal in kids' jewelry from China - cadmium substitued for lead

    Toxic metal in kids' jewelry from China
    By Justin Pritchard, Associated Press Writer
    19 mins ago




    In this Dec. 17, 2009 photo, Jeff Weidenhamer, professor of chemistry at Ashland University, holds a 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', charm in Ashland, Ohio. Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

    LOS ANGELES – Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows.

    The most contaminated piece analyzed in lab testing performed for the AP contained a startling 91 percent cadmium by weight. The cadmium content of other contaminated trinkets, all purchased at national and regional chains or franchises, tested at 89 percent, 86 percent and 84 percent by weight. The testing also showed that some items easily shed the heavy metal, raising additional concerns about the levels of exposure to children.

    A spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates children's products, said Sunday that the agency "is opening an investigation" and "will take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children."

    Cadmium is a known carcinogen. Like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, according to recent research.

    Children don't have to swallow an item to be exposed — they can get persistent, low-level doses by regularly sucking or biting jewelry with a high cadmium content.

    To gauge cadmium's prevalence in children's jewelry, the AP organized lab testing of 103 items bought in New York, Ohio, Texas and California. All but one were purchased in November or December.

    The results: 12 percent of the pieces of jewelry contained at least 10 percent cadmium.

    Some of the most troubling test results were for bracelet charms sold at Walmart, at the jewelry chain Claire's and at a dollar store. High amounts of cadmium also were detected in "The Princess and The Frog" movie-themed pendants.

    "There's nothing positive that you can say about this metal. It's a poison," said Bruce A. Fowler, a cadmium specialist and toxicologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the CDC's priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks No. 7.

    Jewelry industry veterans in China say cadmium has been used in domestic products there for years. Zinc, the metal most cited as a replacement for lead in imported jewelry being sold in the United States, is a much safer and nontoxic alternative. But the jewelry tests conducted for AP, along with test findings showing a growing presence of cadmium in other children's products, demonstrate that the safety threat from cadmium is being exported.

    A patchwork of federal consumer protection regulations does nothing to keep these nuggets of cadmium from U.S. store shelves. If the products were painted toys, they would face a recall. If they were industrial garbage, they could qualify as hazardous waste. But since there are no cadmium restrictions on jewelry, such items are sold legally.

    The CPSC has cracked down on the dangers posed by lead and products known to have killed children, such as cribs, it has never recalled an item for cadmium — even though it has received scattered complaints based on private test results for at least the past two years.

    There is no definitive explanation for why children's jewelry manufacturers, virtually all from China in the items tested, are turning to cadmium. But a reasonable double whammy looms: With lead heavily regulated under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, factories scrambled for substitutes, just as cadmium prices plummeted.

    That law set a new, stringent standard for lead in children's products: Only the very smallest amount is permissible — no more than 0.03 percent of the total content. The statute has led manufacturers to drastically reduce lead in toys and jewelry.

    The law also contained the first explicit regulation of cadmium, though the standards are significantly less strict than lead and apply only to painted toys, not jewelry.

    To determine how much cadmium a child could be exposed to, items are bathed in a solution that mimics stomach acid to see how much of the toxin would leach out after being swallowed.

    The jewelry testing for AP was conducted by chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio, who over the past few years has provided the CPSC with results showing high lead content in products that were later recalled. His lab work for AP assessed how much cadmium was in each item. Overall, 12 of the 103 items each contained at least 10 percent cadmium. Two others contained lower amounts, while the other 89 were clean.

    Ten of the items with the highest cadmium content were then run through the stomach acid test to see how much would escape. Although that test is used only in regulation of toys, AP used it to see what hazard an item could pose because unlike the regulations, a child's body doesn't distinguish between cadmium leached from jewelry and cadmium leached from a toy.

    "Clearly it seems like for a metal as toxic as cadmium, somebody ought to be watching out to make sure there aren't high levels in items that could end up in the hands of kids," said Weidenhamer.

    The CPSC reacted swiftly to the AP story. Agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said: "CPSC will open an investigation into the products tested by Professor Weidenhamer, who we have worked closely with before." He said CPSC would study Weidenhamer's results, attempt to buy the contaminated products content and "take appropriate action as quickly as possible."

    Weidenhamer's test results include:

    • Three flip flop bracelet charms sold at Walmart contained between 84 and 86 percent cadmium. The charms fared the worst of any item on the stomach acid test; one shed more cadmium in 24 hours than what World Health Organization guidelines deem a safe exposure over 60 weeks for a 33-pound child.

    The bracelet was purchased in August 2008. The company that imported them, Florida-based Sulyn Industries, stopped selling the item to Wal-Mart Corp. in November 2008, the firm's president said. Wal-Mart would not comment on whether the charms are still on store shelves, or how many have been sold.

    Sulyn's president, Harry Dickens, said the charms were subjected to testing standards imposed by both Wal-Mart and federal regulation — but were not tested for cadmium.

    In separate written statements, Dickens and Wal-Mart said they consider safety a very high priority. "We consistently seek to sell only those products that meet safety and regulatory standards," Wal-Mart said. "Currently there is no required cadmium standard for children's jewelry."
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    As was the case with every importer or retailer that responded to AP's request for comment on the tests, neither Sulyn nor Wal-Mart would address whether the results concerned them or if the products should be recalled.

    • Four charms from two "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" bracelets sold at a Dollar N More store in Rochester, N.Y., were measured at between 82 and 91 percent cadmium. The charms also fared poorly on the stomach acid test. Two other charms from the same bracelets were subjected to a leaching test which recreates how much cadmium would be released in a landfill and ultimately contaminate groundwater. Based on those results, if the charms were waste from manufacturing, they would have had to be specially handled and disposed of under U.S. environmental law. The company that imported the Rudolph charms, Buy-Rite Designs, Inc. of Freehold, N.J., has gone out of business.

    • Two charms on a "Best Friends" bracelet bought at Claire's, a jewelry chain with nearly 3,000 stores in North America and Europe, consisted of 89 and 91 percent cadmium. The charms also leached alarming amounts in the simulated stomach test. Informed of the results, Claire's issued a statement pointing out that children's jewelry is not required to pass a cadmium leaching test.

    "Claire's has its products tested by independent accredited third-party laboratories approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in compliance with the commission's standards, and has passing test results for the bracelet using these standards," the statement said. Those standards scrutinize lead content, not cadmium.

    • Pendants from four "The Princess and The Frog" necklaces bought at Walmart ranged between 25 and 35 percent cadmium, though none failed the stomach acid test nor the landfill leaching test. The Walt Disney Co., which produced the popular animated movie, said in a statement that test results provided by the manufacturer, Rhode Island-based FAF Inc., showed the item complied with all applicable safety standards.

    An official at FAF's headquarters did not respond to multiple requests for comment when informed of Weidenhamer's results; a woman at the company's office in southern China who would not give her name said FAF products "might naturally contain some very small amounts of cadmium. We measure it in parts per million because the content is so small, for instance one part per million." However, the tests conducted for AP showed the pendants contained between 246,000 and 346,000 parts per million of cadmium.

    "It comes down to the following: Cadmium causes cancer. How much cadmium do you want your child eating?" said Michael R. Harbut, a doctor who has treated adult victims of cadmium poisoning and is director of the environmental cancer program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. "In my view, the answer should be none."

    Xu Hongli, a cadmium specialist with the Beijing office of Asian Metal Ltd., a market research and consultancy firm, said test results showing high cadmium levels in some Chinese-made metal jewelry did not surprise her. Using cadmium alloys has been "a relatively common practice" among manufacturers in the eastern cities of Yiwu and Qingdao and the southern province of Sichuan, Xu said.

    "Some of their products contain 90 percent cadmium or higher," she acknowledged. "Usually, though, they are more careful with export products."

    She said she thought that manufacturers were becoming aware of cadmium's dangers, and are using it less, "But it will still take a while for them to completely shift away from using it."

    The CPSC has received dozens of incident reports of cadmium in products over the past few years, said Gib Mullan, the agency's director of compliance and field operations. Though the CPSC has authority to go after a product deemed a public danger under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act — the law used in lead-related recalls several years ago — there have been no enforcement actions.

    "We are a small agency so we can't do everything we think would be a good idea. We have to try to pick our spots," Mullan said. At most, the agency can investigate 10 percent of the tens of thousands of reports filed by the public each year, he said.

    With the help of an outside firm, the CPSC has started a scientific literature review of cadmium and other heavy metals, including how the substances fare in leaching tests, according to spokesman Wolfson. "If there has a been a shift in manufacturing to the use of cadmium, CPSC will take appropriate action."

    Meanwhile, the CPSC's Mullan cites "a trend upward" in cadmium reports the agency has received — and private-sector testing AP reviewed shows cadmium is showing up more frequently.

    Two outfits that analyze more than a thousand children's products each year checked their data at AP's request. Both said their findings of cadmium above 300 parts per million in an item — the current federal limit for lead — increased from about 0.5 percent of tests in 2007 to about 2.2 percent of tests in 2009. Those tests were conducted using a technology called XRF, a handheld gun that bounces X-rays off an item to estimate how much lead, cadmium or other elements it contains. While the results are not as exact as lab testing, the CPSC regularly uses XRF in its product screening.

    Much of the increase found by the Michigan-based HealthyStuff.org came in toys with polyvinyl chloride plastic, according to Jeff Gearhart, the group's research director. Both lead and cadmium can be used to fortify PVC against the sun's rays. Data collected by a Washington-based company called Essco Safety Check led its president, Seth Goldberg, to suspect that substitution of cadmium for lead partly explains the increase he's seen.

    Rick Locker, general counsel for the Toy Industry Association of America, and Sheila A. Millar, a lawyer representing the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association, said their industries make products that are safe and insisted cadmium is not widely used.

    Millar said jewelry makers often opt for zinc these days. "While FJTA can only speak to the experience of its members," Millar wrote in an e-mail, "widespread substitution of cadmium is not something they see."

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100111/...hpY21ldGFsaW4-
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    I wonder if they are having to use these materials to make it affordable not only to make them, but for us to buy them.
    Not saying this is right at all, but what material do we use to produce such things to keep it at an affordable costs to manufacturers, and consumers?

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    That is like saying it is cheaper to use sawdust then oatmeal as a filler in sausage....
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge View Post
    That is like saying it is cheaper to use sawdust then oatmeal as a filler in sausage....
    and they do do this, so I've heard.....???

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    and it is still wrong ....

    It is one thing to manage your profit margin ... it is another to do so at the expense of your consumers' health and well being.
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    US agency goes after cadmium in children's jewelry
    By Justin Pritchard And Jeff Donn, Associated Press Writers
    8 mins ago


    LOS ANGELES – Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, warning Asian manufacturers not to substitute other toxins for lead in children's jewelry and beginning an inquiry into cadmium found in the products around the United States.

    Regulators reacted swiftly to an Associated Press investigation reporting that some Chinese manufacturers have been using cadmium in place of lead in children's charm bracelets and pendants, sometimes at extraordinarily high levels. Congress clamped down on lead in those products in 2008, but cadmium is even more harmful.

    "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 Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who has championed stronger rules for children's products.

    Cadmium, which is known to cause cancer, is a soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil. It's perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic.

    Cadmium is attractive to Chinese manufacturers because it is cheap and easy to work with. But, like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, recent research shows.

    In taped remarks to be delivered Tuesday in Hong Kong, the chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged other countries to ensure that manufacturers do not substitute cadmium, antimony or barium in place of lead in children's products.

    "All of us should be committed to keeping hazardous or toxic levels of heavy metals out of ... toys and children's products," Inez Tenenbaum said in a transcript of remarks to an international toy safety conference.

    Tenenbaum singled out cadmium for special vigilance and said: "Voluntary efforts will only take us so far."

    The commission immediately said it was opening an investigation into the AP's findings, promising to "take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children."

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also said Monday that his office would investigate cadmium content in some products, particularly costume jewelry.

    Blumenthal would not say whether he's 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.

    The AP ran lab tests on 103 pieces of low-price children's jewelry such as charm bracelets and pendants purchased around the country. Virtually all imported were 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, 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.

    Eighty-nine items were free of cadmium.

    U.S.-based trade groups, as well as distributors and sellers of the jewelry containing cadmium, said their products meet safety standards. Cadmium is regulated in painted toys but not in jewelry.

    A cadmium specialist with the Beijing office of Asian Metal Ltd., a market research and consultancy firm, said products with cadmium are normally directed to the Chinese domestic market.

    A 2008 law imposed limits on lead in children's products and sent factories rushing for substitutes. About the same time, cadmium prices dropped, in part because nickel-cadmium batteries are swiftly being replaced with newer designs.

    In her speech, Tenenbaum praised manufacturers for largely abandoning lead in their goods. The tests run for the AP found little lead.

    The jewelry testing was conducted by chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio, who over the past few years has provided the government with results showing high lead content in products that were later recalled.

    His testing of children's jewelry for AP also showed that some items easily shed cadmium, elevating concerns about exposure to children.

    "Clearly it seems like for a metal as toxic as cadmium, somebody ought to be watching out to make sure there aren't high levels in items that could end up in the hands of kids," Weidenhamer said.

    "There's nothing positive that you can say about this metal. It's a poison," said Bruce A. Fowler, a cadmium specialist and toxicologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the agency's priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks No. 7.

    If the cadmium-laden jewelry were industrial garbage, it could qualify as hazardous waste. But since there are no cadmium restrictions on jewelry, such items are sold legally. The federal government has never recalled an item for cadmium, though it has fielded scattered complaints for at least two years. The CPSC cited "an upward trend" in reports of products containing cadmium.

    Private-sector testing confirms this. Two laboratories that analyze more than a thousand children's products each year checked their data at AP's request. Both said their findings of cadmium above 300 parts per million in an item — the current federal limit for lead — increased from about 0.5 percent of tests in 2007 to about 2.2 percent of tests in 2009.

    However, Sheila A. Millar, a lawyer for the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association, said members had not noticed "widespread substitution" with cadmium. She said jewelry makers these days often opt for zinc, which is a safer substitute.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100111/...admium_jewelry
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    Lead damages child kidneys, even low levels
    58 mins ago


    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tiny amounts of lead are common in the blood of U.S. teenagers and may be damaging their kidneys, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

    They found evidence of early kidney damage in children with lead levels far below what is normally considered dangerous and said this could lead to kidney disease in later life.

    "To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that very low levels of lead may impact kidney function in healthy children, which underscores the need to minimize sources of lead exposure," Dr. Jeffrey Fadrowski of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the study, said in a statement.

    Even though sources of lead have been drastically cut in the United States, the metal may still be damaging the health of some people, Fadrowski's team reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

    They studied test results from 769 adolescents aged 12 to 20 who took part in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994.

    When divided into four equal groups, those in the quarter with the highest lead levels had evidence of slowing kidney function.

    "Our findings were particularly striking because we saw slightly decreased kidney function in healthy children without conditions that could account for it, and this could spell more kidney trouble down the road as these children get older or if they acquire additional risk factors for kidney disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes," said Dr. Susan Furth of Johns Hopkins Children's Center, who worked on the study.

    The teens in the study had a mean lead level of 1.5 micrograms per deciliter, considered safe by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC's level of concern for lead is 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood.

    BETTER MONITORING URGED

    The youngsters with lead levels above 2.9 had slower kidney function. They were also more likely to come from poor families with lower education levels.

    The researchers noted that 26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, which can be caused or worsened by high blood pressure.

    Lead exposure has decreased substantially in the United States, primarily due to measures including the 1996 ban on lead in gasoline and a 1978 phaseout of lead in paint.

    But most of the U.S. general population still has detectable blood levels, the researchers added.

    "Current exposure sources include industry, lead paint, folk remedies, glazed pottery, candy, and drinking water in some urban areas, and certain populations continue to experience high lead exposure, in particular, inner-city children and adults living in areas of low socioeconomic status."

    They called for better monitoring of both lead and kidney function in children.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100111/...lead_kidneys_1


    wonder what the study results would be for cadmium ?
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    Walmart pulling jewelry cited in AP cadmium report
    By Justin Pritchard And Jeff Donn, Associated Press Writers
    1 hr 53 mins ago


    LOS ANGELES – Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, 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 Associated Press documented the contamination in an investigative report, the top U.S. 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 AP report, which found that some Chinese manufacturers have been using cadmium, sometimes at extraordinarily high levels. Congress clamped down on lead in those products in 2008, but cadmium is even more harmful.

    Melissa Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., called the AP 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. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said he's 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 Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who has championed stronger rules for children's products.

    Cadmium, which is known to cause cancer, is a soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil. It's perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic.

    Cadmium is attractive to Chinese manufacturers because it is cheap and easy to work with. But, like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, recent research shows.

    In taped remarks to be delivered Tuesday in Hong Kong, the chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged other countries to ensure that manufacturers do not substitute cadmium, antimony or barium in place of lead in children's products.

    "All of us should be committed to keeping hazardous or toxic levels of heavy metals out of ... toys and children's products," Inez Tenenbaum said in a transcript of remarks to an international toy safety conference.

    Tenenbaum singled out cadmium for special vigilance and said: "Voluntary efforts will only take us so far."

    The commission immediately said it was opening an investigation into the AP's findings, promising to "take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children."

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also said Monday that his office would investigate cadmium content in some products, particularly costume jewelry.

    Blumenthal would not say whether he's 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.

    New York state Sen. James S. Alesi said he will introduce legislation to ban the sale of cadmium in jewelry in his state. "We must act immediately to keep this contaminated jewelry out of the hands of children and reduce their exposure to toxic substances," said Alesi, a Republican.

    Lab tests were conducted for the AP 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.

    Eighty-nine items were free of cadmium.

    U.S.-based trade groups, as well as distributors and sellers of the jewelry containing cadmium, said their products meet safety standards. Cadmium is regulated in painted toys but not in jewelry.

    A cadmium specialist with the Beijing office of Asian Metal Ltd., a market research and consultancy firm, said products with cadmium are normally directed to the Chinese domestic market.

    "This is just the latest example of the need for stronger consumer safety laws in this country, especially for products manufactured and marketed for children, and shows yet again why products from China should be subject to additional scrutiny," said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat.

    "Between children's jewelry, tainted milk and contaminated pet food, China has a long record of producing unsafe products, and the U.S. should continue to be wary of all products arriving from China."

    A 2008 law imposed limits on lead in children's products and sent factories rushing for substitutes. About the same time, cadmium prices dropped, in part because nickel-cadmium batteries are swiftly being replaced with newer designs.

    In her speech, Tenenbaum praised manufacturers for largely abandoning lead in their goods. The tests run for the AP found little lead.

    The jewelry testing was conducted by chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio, who over the past few years has provided the government with results showing high lead content in products that were later recalled.

    His testing of children's jewelry for AP also showed that some items easily shed cadmium, elevating concerns about exposure to children.

    "Clearly it seems like for a metal as toxic as cadmium, somebody ought to be watching out to make sure there aren't high levels in items that could end up in the hands of kids," Weidenhamer said.

    "There's nothing positive that you can say about this metal. It's a poison," said Bruce A. Fowler, a cadmium specialist and toxicologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the agency's priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks No. 7.

    If the cadmium-laden jewelry were industrial garbage, it could qualify as hazardous waste. But since there are no cadmium restrictions on jewelry, such items are sold legally. The federal government has never recalled an item for cadmium, though it has fielded scattered complaints for at least two years. The CPSC cited "an upward trend" in reports of products containing cadmium.

    Private-sector testing confirms this. Two laboratories that analyze more than a thousand children's products each year checked their data at AP's request. Both said their findings of cadmium above 300 parts per million in an item — the current federal limit for lead — increased from about 0.5 percent of tests in 2007 to about 2.2 percent of tests in 2009.

    However, Sheila A. Millar, a lawyer for the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association, said members had not noticed "widespread substitution" with cadmium. She said jewelry makers these days often opt for zinc, which is a safer substitute.

    Some children's advocates weren't reassured.

    "If they're going to substitute one chemical for another ... they need to have some indications it's a safe thing to have in a product that a child is going to use," said Nancy Cowles, director of Kids in Danger, a Chicago-based nonprofit that advocates for safety in children's products. "With cadmium, we've known for years it's unsafe."

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cadmiu...xtYXJ0cHVsbGk-
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    China to look into AP report of cadmium in jewelry
    By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP Business Writer Jeremiah Marquez, Ap Business Writer 2 hrs 22 mins ago
    HONG KONG – China's product safety agency will look into findings that dangerous levels of cadmium are being used in exports of children's jewelry, a Chinese official said Tuesday following growing concern in the United States about the products.

    Attending a toy safety conference in Hong Kong, the official said that his agency only just learned of findings in an Associated Press investigation published Sunday and would examine the findings on cadmium contamination.

    "We just heard about this, and we will investigate," said Wang Xin, a director general for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

    Though Wang does not have the authority to order a full-bore inquiry, his comments were the government's first on the matter and show China's nervousness about potential troubles in the U.S., the biggest Chinese export market.

    On Monday, retail giant Walmart pulled products cited in the AP report from its stores in the U.S. The attorney general of Connecticut promised to investigate suspect costume jewelry. A New York state legislator called for a ban on the sale of children's jewelry with cadmium in the state. The top U.S. consumer safety regulator warned Asian manufacturers that cadmium and other toxins must be kept out of children's charm bracelets, pendants and other baubles.

    Lab tests conducted for the AP on 103 pieces of low-priced children's jewelry on sale in the U.S. found 12 items with raised levels of cadmium, which can hinder brain development in young children, according to recent research, and is known to cause cancer.

    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.

    The findings of cadmium contamination come on the heels of a string of product quality scandals in 2007 that caused Congress in 2008 to ban toys and other kids products that contain lead — another dangerous and once commonly used material. Cadmium is even more harmful.

    A soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil, cadmium is perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic. Low-cost jewelry makers find cadmium attractive because it is cheap and easy to work with.

    Melissa Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., called the AP 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."

    In taped remarks delivered at the toy safety conference in Hong Kong, the chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged other countries to ensure that manufacturers do not substitute cadmium, antimony or barium in place of lead in children's products.

    "All of us should be committed to keeping hazardous or toxic levels of heavy metals out of ... toys and children's products," Inez Tenenbaum said in a transcript of the remarks.

    Tenenbaum singled out cadmium for special vigilance and said: "Voluntary efforts will only take us so far."

    The commission immediately said it was opening an investigation into the AP's findings, promising to "take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children."

    Stung by the product scandals earlier this decade, toy manufacturers in Hong Kong said they understood why the U.S. would tighten regulations further.

    Vincent Tan, the director for compliance at the Jetta Co., a toy manufacturer, said he would support a cadmium ban "if scientific evidence supports that it is leaching and causing hazards for children."

    Companies like Jetta — which has made electronic and plastic toys for U.S. companies like Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc., but does not produce children's jewelry — do not use cadmium in paint. But the metal may be present in alloys it uses.

    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.

    U.S.-based trade groups, as well as distributors and sellers of the jewelry containing cadmium, said their products meet safety standards. Cadmium is regulated in painted toys but not in jewelry.

    A cadmium specialist with the Beijing office of Asian Metal Ltd., a market research and consultancy firm, said products with cadmium are normally directed to the Chinese domestic market.

    A 2008 law imposed limits on lead in children's products and sent factories rushing for substitutes. About the same time, cadmium prices dropped, in part because nickel-cadmium batteries are swiftly being replaced with newer designs.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100112/...luYXRvbG9va2k-
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    China jewelry makers say toxic metal cuts costs
    By Eugene Hoshiko And Alexa Olesen, Associated Press Writers
    Tue Jan 12, 4:25 pm ET


    YIWU, China – For China's low-cost jewelry makers, it was an open trade secret: The metal cadmium is shiny, strong and malleable at low temperatures, regardless of its health hazards. And it's cheap.

    Despite the risks, manufacturers in factories ringing this city on China's east coast say their top priority is profit. So offering cut-rate goods often means using lower quality materials, including cadmium, which is known to cause cancer.

    "Business is business, and it's all up to our client," said He Huihua, manager of the Suiyuan Jewelry Shop at International Trade City in Yiwu, a sprawling wholesale mecca where sellers pitch their wares in hopes of landing a lucrative export contract.

    He spoke from a small cubicle with rows of dangling metal earrings and key chains hanging on the wall. Elsewhere, brooches, necklaces, charms and other baubles shone under the market's lights. "We just make what our clients order. If they pay more, we use the better raw material, and vice-versa. From a few cents to a few dollars, we can make the same style of jewelry product with a different raw material."

    Asked what he thought about the health risks associated with cadmium and other toxic metals, He said: "I can't be overly concerned about that."


    Long-standing concerns about the safety of Chinese exports flared anew this week after an investigation by The Associated Press found that 12 of 103 pieces of mainly Chinese-made children's jewelry bought in the Unites States contained at least 10 percent cadmium, some in the 80-90 percent range. Two had less than 10 percent and the rest had none.

    The findings prompted retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to remove the products cited by AP from its stores in the United States. On Tuesday, the jewelry and accessories chain Claire's, with nearly 3,000 locations in North America and Europe, announced that it, too, would stop selling any item cited in the AP investigation.

    Charms on a "Best Friends" bracelet sold at Claire's contained 89 and 91 percent cadmium, according to testing organized by AP, and shed alarming amounts in a procedure that examined how much cadmium children might be exposed to.

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced it was opening an investigation into the AP's findings, and China's government also took notice of the trouble brewing in its largest export market. "We just heard about this, and we will investigate," said Wang Xin, director of supervision in the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

    He spoke to an AP reporter at a toy safety conference in Hong Kong. His agency and the Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to written questions submitted by fax in Beijing.

    The tainted jewelry was reminiscent of the product-safety scandals of 2007 in which dangerous levels of lead caused Mattel Inc. and other toy makers to recall large numbers of Chinese-made toys. Following that, the U.S. government enacted tougher limits on lead in toys.

    Beijing also promised greater vigilance in enforcing safety standards for exports and the domestic market. China has regulations limiting cadmium to tiny amounts in fashion jewelry and children's toys. Fashion jewelry should not contain more than 0.1 percent cadmium. In materials for toys, cadmium should not exceed 75 parts per million, or 50 parts per million for clay and paint.

    The limits are comparable with international standards. But enforcement is still lax, as it was in 2007.

    A metals expert in a Yiwu jewelry factory said some raw-material suppliers sell an alloy containing up to 90 percent cadmium.

    Interviews with more than a dozen manufacturers and sellers in Yiwu confirm that cadmium is a common ingredient in the earrings, bracelets, charms and other baubles being churned out by local factories and piled high in that city's wholesale markets.

    Yiwu, once a small county town five hours south of Shanghai, has boomed in the past 20 years. It now dominates China's low- to mid-range jewelry market, while premium products using gold and real gems tend to be made down south in the Pearl River Delta, near Hong Kong.

    In all, China shipped about 1.3 million pounds (595,000 kilograms) of jewelry abroad in 2008 — a 15 percent decrease from the previous year, according to the Hong Kong-based consulting firm Global Sources.

    Tao Xinyao, a metals expert who works in the Yiwu factory for jewelry maker Neoglory, said she noticed an uptick in the use of cadmium around 2003, when prices of the metal hit a low. Jewelry makers discovered they could work with cadmium at much lower temperatures than they could zinc, the most common nontoxic material, she said.

    The lower melting point for cadmium — around 300 degrees Celsius compared to 400 degrees for zinc — means factories use less energy and do not need to change their silicon rubber molds as often, Tao said. Because cadmium is lighter than zinc, buyers also get more per ton when they buy an alloy. "In the Yiwu market, some material suppliers sell so-called 'zinc alloys,'" Tao said. "However, this may contain just a very small amount of zinc, and 80 to 90 percent cadmium. It actually should be called cadmium alloy."

    Lead and cadmium are commonly found in metal jewelry sold in China simply because it's cheaper. A ton of high-quality zinc costs about 28,000 yuan ($4,100) while zinc with lead, cadmium or both in it sells for about 16,000 yuan ($2,350), said Frank Zhang, an executive with a jewelry factory in Yiwu that specializes in high-end exports but who did not want his Chinese or company names used.

    Industry executives said most of the low-end goods with high amounts of cadmium are sold in China and increasingly sent to Dubai and other markets in the Middle East with less stringent import controls than the U.S. or Europe.

    Cutting corners and trimming costs have become even more critical to Chinese manufacturers since the financial crisis sent purchase orders plummeting. Global Sources said about 10 percent of China's jewelry plants were forced to shut down in 2008 due to the financial crisis.

    Sales representative Toby Zhu said his company, a jewelry factory in Yiwu that turns out faux diamonds and jade strung on gold-plated chains, is among those feeling the pinch.

    Over the last year, Zhu's factory closed its showroom at the trade mall, laid off seven of its 100 workers and gave deep discounts to loyal customers in an attempt to weather the financial crisis. They are also using a cheaper grade of zinc than before, but Zhu denied switching to a cadmium alloy. He said their zinc alloys were mid-range in price and contained safe metals such as copper, magnesium or steel.

    Zhu, who did not want his Chinese or company's name used, said lead was even better than cadmium or zinc for tiny charms. Since the U.S. adopted more restrictions on lead, he said, many overseas clients have come to demand lead-free products, probably prompting many manufacturers to turn to cadmium.

    Making sure Chinese-made goods are safe requires constant vigilance — something many foreign companies fail to do, said Christopher Devereux, managing director of the Guangzhou-based consulting firm Chinasavvy HK Ltd. China traders like Devereux call it "quality fade" — a phenomenon in China in which suppliers constantly try to produce goods more cheaply with lower-quality materials. "In any other country in the West, your quality curve goes upwards, but it's the opposite in China. We just have learned our lesson. We need to check every single batch," said Devereux who helps Western companies buy and produce a variety of goods in China, from toys and plumbing fixtures to shoes and lunch boxes.

    "Cadmium is one of the nastiest of the heavy metals, worse than lead. I was absolutely amazed that people were using it," he said.

    Chen Zaiying, manager of the Yiwu SK Jewelry shop in the International Trade City, echoed Devereux's comment, saying many Chinese manufacturers combine hazardous batches with others that comply with regulations in the destination market. "The buyer should not rely only on the inspection report offered by the producer," Chen said. "They should have the sense to do their own inspection as well if they really want the product to meet the export standard."

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100112/...actories/print
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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