Kids Jewelry Should Be Thrown Away

The head of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Inez Tenenbaum, has told US consumers to throw away any children’s jewelry that was manufactured in China. Tenenbaum’s reaction has come in the wake of studies that have found unsafe levels of lead and cadmium in the jewelry. The CPSC warning was published in a blog post after the Associated Press reported the dangerous levels of lead and cadmium in the jewelry. The report included the most contaminated piece analyzed for its investigation contained a whopping 91 percent cadmium by weight. Other pieces of jewelry tested at 89 percent, 86 percent and 84 percent by weight. Overall, 12 percent of 103 pieces of jewelry contained at least 10 percent cadmium.
This poses a serious public health risk to our children. Cadmium is a known carcinogen that may interfere with neurological development in children. Presently, there are no restrictions in the use of cadmium in the manufacturing of children’s jewelry.