Cadmium in Chinese jewelry raises alarms (LAT)

[mike r]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-cadmium-20100910,0,3561880.story

September 10, 2010
Cadmium in Chinese jewelry raises alarms
U.S. regulators have recalled more than 200,000 pieces of jewelry containing the metal, which can be toxic in high levels.
By Lily Kuo, Los Angeles Times

The cupcake-shaped pendants came in shades of blue and pink, studded with rhinestones. Meant for little girls, they hung on simple faux-silver necklaces and cost as little as $8. And they were potentially deadly, according to consumer advocates. This type of cheap costume jewelry made with the metal cadmium, which can be toxic at high levels, is at the heart of the latest "made in China" scare.

Since January, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has targeted more than 200,000 pieces of cheap jewelry from China that were made with cadmium and sold at numerous national retail chains, including Wal-Mart and Claire's. The latest recall, issued in July, targeted the cupcake pendant necklaces and other items that were sold at Justice clothing stores for preteen girls... Since U.S. legislation in 2008 all but banned lead in children's products, Chinese factories have increasingly turned to cadmium as a substitute. Like lead, cadmium added shape and weight to jewelry, and was cheap. Because entry into low-end jewelry manufacturing in China is inexpensive, competition is tough and factories do all they can to stay afloat, even if that means using toxic materials...

"Cadmium is toxic to humans," said Ruth A. Lawrence, professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. "Children are especially susceptible to even small exposures of cadmium from metal toys and trinkets, which can damage their developing organs." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency labels cadmium a "probable human carcinogen," with most exposure to humans coming from the burning of fossil fuels. Smokers tend to have twice as much cadmium in their bodies as nonsmokers, the EPA said.

Children who suck on or swallow toys made with cadmium could be especially vulnerable, experts said. Tests on animals exposed to cadmium have shown bone weakening, and offspring of animals exposed during pregnancy have shown behavioral and learning ability defects... There is a federal law that severely limits the use of cadmium in paint, but it does not apply to jewelry. In July, Rep. Jackie Speier (D- San Francisco) introduced a toxic metal protections bill, which would limit the use of cadmium to 75 parts per million in jewelry meant for children. The measure is now in a House committee...

[Warpy]

1. China has lax regulations, spotty inspections and poor quality control

and the last administration simply allowed all this stuff into the country without question. The dogma of small government and laissez faire economics is what produces things like this and half the people in this country still haven't wised up to it.

Maybe if enough babies in the US had died from Chinese made formula laced with gawd knows what there would have been more people catching a clue. Unfortunately, it takes just that kind of disaster to get through to dogmatic fools.

[lib2DaBone]

2. Lead paint in toys, poison dog food, dry wall that smells like rotten eggs...

..and yet we continue to hemmorage jobs to China?

If anyone in Washington was serious about creating jobs.. wouldn't it makes sense to stop the bleeding of jobs to China?