Personal Injury Law

Cadmium-Tainted Children's Products under Scrutiny

An Associated Press news report has shown that children's jewelry sold in retailers such as Wal-Mart, Claire's and New York City dollar stores is tainted with a dangerous, poisonous metal called cadmium. What is cadmium? It is a substance, which has been listed number seven on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) top 200 hazardous substances. Federal regulators really cracked down on lead-tainted toys last year. So more and more Chinese toy makers are now resorting to cadmium, which is extremely toxic even in low doses.

The AP report says children can get persistent low-level doses by regularly sucking or biting jewelry with a high cadmium content. The news agency conducted lab tests on cadmium jewelry bought at stores including several in New York. The investigation showed that out of 103 pieces of costume jewelry, 12 contained at least 10 percent cadmium, which can cause brain damage and kidney failure in young children. A day after this report came out, Wal-Mart pulled several suspect items off its shelves. Cadmium exposure at high levels can even cause cancer, experts say.

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on January 28, 2010 (boomark / email).