Toxic Toys

Product safety officers are launching an investigation into the presence of the toxic metal cadmium in children’s jewelry import from China after evidence of the substance was found. “The promise to ‘take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children’ followed by hours the release Sunday of an Associated Press investigative report that documented how some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting cadmium for lead in cheap charm bracelets and pendants being sold throughout the United States. Meantime, the head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency that regulates children’s jewelry and toys, was set to deliver a speech Tuesday to Asian manufacturers emphasizing that American regulators are still scrutinizing jewelry contents now that they’ve barred the use of lead. In a taped keynote speech to a toy safety meeting in Hong Kong, organized by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a forum of governments in the region, CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum was to laud manufacturers for effectively abandoning the use of lead in children’s products. She also was to warn that ‘the bar will be raised in the new year’ when it comes to safety, agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said.”