Last month, an investigation by the Associated Press found alarming high amounts of cadmium in children’s jewelry. This investigation lead to a recall of children’s jewelry and further investigation by the Associated Press has found cadmium in adult jewelry as well.
Considering that data that we have collected for over two years assisted with the initial investigation with the AP reporter, I thought I would look further into the data about cadmium and share this information.
The information is only about consumer products and was collected by using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzers to look for a variety of heavy metals by using X-Rays to determine if elements are present or not present in virtually anything. Over 8000 test results have been compiled.
The data present in this article is looking at a total content for cadmium found at 40 Parts Per Million (PPM) or greater. In 2008, Washington State passed the Children’s Safety Product Act (CSPA) which regulated lead and cadmium in total content (Lead at 90 PPM and Cadmium at 40 PPM) which are stricter standards than were established by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Considering that total content of cadmium is not part of the federal regulation, and my company is based in Washington State, I have decided to use that number as my standard for this data.
My desire is not to scare anyone with this information; I am just trying to provide some awareness. Just because we find some harmful metals in everyday items does not mean that they are going to harm you, however, they are present and that means there is a potential for harm. With knowledge and awareness you can mitigate harm.
During our testing we have found cadmium and lead in a variety of different substrates including; metal jewelry (necklaces, rings, pins and pendants), glass, plastics, ceramics (cups, plates and bowls), cooking equipment, furniture, toys, handbags and even personal care items.
In total we have found 3.64% of all items tested appear to have cadmium.
Age of the item also appears to make some difference. In items that were brand new, we have found 2.75% of these items to have cadmium, yet used “older” items have approximately 4.88% cadmium.
Children’s products in general have less cadmium than the average with 2.63% found with cadmium.
Of all substrates tested the three with the highest percentages of items found with cadmium are ceramics, metals and glass.
Ceramics are typical items found in the kitchen environment; coffee cups, plates, dishes, cooking equipment and the like. Of all ceramics tested we have found cadmium in 12.03% of these items.
Metal substrates refer mostly to jewelry, but some metals found with cadmium include pots and pans. Of all metals tested we have found cadmium in 9.09% of these items. However, two points standout when the data is further evaluated concerning metal. The levels of cadmium found in these items appear to be much greater than other substrates and when we breakdown the results by age, children’s products appear to have a slightly higher average then overall metals. I have seen cadmium over 10% in many of these items.
Glass is typically found in two types of products, jewelry (beads) and kitchen items. Although we find that glass as a substrate appears to have the most overall percentages found with cadmium of any one substrate, these levels appear to be much lower than jewelry. Overall, with glass substrates tested we have found 30.68% to contain cadmium.
Once again, I just wish to provide awareness, my goal is not to scare you!
Please don’t go run to your kitchen and throw away your dishes and coffee cups. With ceramics, the most important thing is the condition of the glaze. If the glaze appears to be in good condition with no cracks, chips, blemishes, than you really shouldn’t worry.
This was just a snap shot of cadmium found in the typical home, with typical consumer products, using XRF analyzers.
If you know what is in your environment, you can mitigate harm.
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Comment by Earlene Ruggeri — March 21, 2010 @ 11:17 pm