Children’s Jewelry from Major Retailers is Unsafe!

 The Good Housekeeping Research Institute’s product testing laboratory , released it’s findings today concerning  tiny earrings and necklaces from major retailers including, Claire’s, Target and Walmart.  The jewelry was tested for heavy metals, including lead and cadmium.  Ingestion of these metals can be extremely dangerous, especially for young children, who absorb them into their systems more readily.

Good Housekeeping found that every piece of jewelry tested greatly exceeded the government’s lead limit allowed for children’s products, including a stud earring which contained 124 times the permissible level, and a Disney-branded earring that contained 47 times the government-mandated limit.  In addition, most pieces contained cadmium, which has been the culprit in a number of recent jewelry recalls.

Manufacturers are getting around some of the rules put in place limiting the levels of these metals in children’s jewelry, by placing suggested age ranges over 7, and in some cases age 14.  The jewelry pieces are obvious draws for younger children though, due to their small size and child attracting designs.

Efforts are currently being made to change the law, so that this loophole , which is endangering children will be closed.  In the meantime parents are strongly encouraged not to purchase or allow their young children access to jewelry meeting this description. 

Be sure to check around your house, especially if there are younger siblings who could get hold of this dangerous jewelry.  Children have actually died in the past from ingesting contaminated jewelry and trinkets, like this.  Don’t assume a “sterling silver” mark, ensures safety either, many silver items tested had high toxic metal content as well.  Sterling only means that 92.5% of the metal used is silver.

If a child does swallow a trinket that may contain lead or cadmium, Good Housekeeping recommends immediately calling Poison Control at 800.222.1222.  For more about Good Housekeeping’s children’s jewelry test, visit: www.goodhousekeeping.com/kidsjewelry.