Following the Associated Press news release on the testing of inexpensive jewelry items for cadmium content by Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer, Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Ashland University, Dr. Weidenhamer has conducted numerous media interviews and was interviewed for both ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show.
The testing and subsequent news article has led the Consumer Products Safety Commission to launch an investigation into the high levels of cadmium in kids' jewelry. Also, according to news reports from various sources, Wal-mart, the nation's largest retailer, is taking some products containing cadmium off its shelves.
A total of 103 jewelry items were purchased at retail stores in Ohio, Texas, California and New York. The items were screened by Dr. Weidenhamer and two Ashland University toxicology students working under his supervision for the presence of high levels of cadmium using a technique called X-ray fluorescence. A total of 14 items contained more than 10% cadmium based on these tests.
Additional testing was done on several of the high-cadmium jewelry items to determine the amounts of cadmium that might leach from the items if swallowed, and to determine the total cadmium content of items based on digestion of the metal in acid.
The maximum cadmium content found was 91.0 percent, or 910,000, in a Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer charm purchase at a dollar store in New York by Judy Braiman of the Empire State Consumer Group of Rochester, N.Y. Charms on another bracelet contained 89 percent and 91 percent cadmium, and a necklace pendant contained 79 percent cadmium. All of these pieces released dangerously high amounts of cadmium in leaching tests.
Cadmium is a toxic metal that is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The primary hazard of chronic cadmium exposure is kidney damage, however recent research also links cadmium exposure to learning disabilities and loss of IQ in young children. The World Health Organization estimates the tolerable weekly intake for cadmium to be 7 micrograms per kg body weight per week. There are currently no standards for the cadmium content of jewelry items intended for children.