Be informed: Last year, lead in kids’ jewelry became a big issue. Now, news reports indicate that some imported children’s jewelry is contaminated with cadmium. Here’s a briefing:
Starting in January, reports began emerging that cadmium, a known carcinogen, was detected in imported kids’ jewelry. (See this report. as well as
one of the earliest reports that showed up on the web.)
This is surprising. Especially since lead-tainted imported goods have gotten so much attention, the materials of choice for white metal castings are zinc and tin. Both antimony and tin are used for pewter. (For example, Tierracast in the US uses the foodsafe alloy of antimony and tin known as “Britannia Metal.”)
Cadmium seems a truly odd choice in casting jewelry components. Granted, it isn’t lead, a material that’s become pretty unacceptable in the US market. At the time of the emerging cadmium reports, Rings & Things already had an existing request in with Chinese suppliers for cast items to be made without lead or nickel content, using zinc instead.
But a comparison of prices of all these metals shows why cadmium is such a strange choice to include in low-priced cast components. It’s 10 times the price of zinc or lead.
(We hear rumors of sterling-silver produced with cadmium, with the resulting material being below the standards for sterling. That adulteration makes sense. Sterling silver is expensive enough to make cadmium an attractive addition, but ‘white metal’ / base metal castings would actually be made more expensive by added cadmium.)
Recent market prices for the above-mentioned metals (in US dollars):
Lead $1.17 a pound
Zinc $1.18 / lb
Tin $8.10 / lb
Cadmium $12.00 / lb
Rings & Things has had a variety of items tested for cadmium. It appears there are extremely tiny (trace) amounts. In three-fourths of the items, these amounts are in fact below the testing limit of less than 16 ppm (which is 0.0016%); one-fourth tested slightly higher, at 19 ppm (0.0019%.)
In summary, we advise keeping posted on any further media stories about possible cadmium content in imported jewelry parts. R&T has done some testing, and found no cadmium danger in our items.
Finally, we remind our customers, as we do in regard to lead content, that our products are not intended for use in children’s jewelry.
10 Comments
Interesting find on the apparent incongruity between cadmium content and price.
“Finally, we remind our customers, as we do in regard to lead content, that our products are not intended for use in children’s jewelry.”
I’m curious, though –does this imply that children are more susceptible to lead or cadmium poisoning than adults?
Hi, aiche,
Thanks for your thoughtful question. I’m not sure we’ve got information about this, but here’s my 2 cents’ worth of guesses:
Maybe the idea behind regulating harmful metals in kids’ jewelry is that we can’t assume that kids make informed purchasing decisions — nor that they have the money to buy this stuff for themselves.
Anyone know more about the relative toxicity of these metals to kids vs. adults?
The main problems that I’ve heard about jewelry and kids, is that kids are far more likely to
a) put their jewelry in their mouths — often! and
b) due to the fact that they’re more likely to lose their jewelry, they tend to receive the types of inexpensive jewelry that are more likely to contain quirky fillers. (Sterling Silver and Carat Gold don’t have lead.)
And – it seems to me more tragic when you give a kid a gift and it make them unhealthy, then when you purchase something for yourself and it makes you unhealthy.
Generally, most toxics are more harmful to smaller individuals as they have less fat, smaller livers and kidneys etc that can filter out or store the possibly lethal substances. Some substances also have negative effects on a body and brain still developing, which is a problem for growing children but not so much for adults. But I think it also might have to do with the fact that kids more often suck and bite on things: the skin doesn’t absorb poisons as well as we do internally. That’s how most people are poisoned by lead, eating or drinking something that has been contaminated, usually by being stored in e.g. cheap ceramic bowls.
Already in 2007 Swedish magazine Ica-kuriren found cadmium in costume jewelry, eventhough lead and nickel was much bigger problems — and much more common. (We don’t have bans on lead in jewelry, but do have regulations on nickel content allowed.)
Recently I learned that some goldsmiths still prefer using gold solder with cadmium, eventhough cadmium-free solder are common. Cadmium makes the solder melt better or some such.
Not so worried about being poisoned myself, but I do worry about people working with these horrible heavy metals: breathing cadmium fumes can be very dangerous and even lethal…
Hrmm… meant to say “many toxins”, not most. I’m not sure about most of them as I just read about the effects as part of my education in environmental science — I’m not a chemist or toxicologist or anything like that.
A large part of the concern I believe is related to the ingestion of the lead or cadmium. Children are generally more likely to eat or suck on toys and jewelry than adults are.
So much great information – thank you all!
This just underscores, once again, that Chinese manufacturers do not care if they poison us. I go out of my way to NOT buy Chinese products and would encourage others to do the same.
Thanks to y’all for chiming in and using this blog for a great purpose. The depth of information we’ve achieved in this discussion reaches a really useful level.
Just another reason why it is so important to pay attention to how things are made and where it comes from. Wherever possible we desperately try to buy our jewelry supplies from US vendors and make sure that all of our stones are mined from socially responsible countries.