The Most Restrictive Limit in the World
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed MD HB 145 into law on 5/19/2011. The new law regulates cadmium in children’s jewelry to 75ppm by weight (total content). In so doing, Maryland becomes the second state to pass this restriction, slated to take effect 7/1/2012. ( Connecticut’s 75ppm by weight rule will go into force in 2014.) FJATA submitted strong opposition to this bill, and yet it passed with unanimous support from the legislature.
The problem with the bill is that MD and CT have enacted the world’s most restrictive cadmium legislation, while the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has determined that a safe acute exposure level is 200 mcg for a small child (see CPSC Staff Report on Cadmium in Children’s Metal Jewelry, p. 8). Safety is always the top priority. However, products that are actually safe should be salable, not treated as banned hazardous substances.
With input from industry, testing labs, consumer groups, Health Canada, and CPSC staff, the ASTM 15.24 Children’s Jewelry Safety Standard establishes safe levels for cadmium in children’s jewelry, based on FJATA and CPSC research and testing. CPSC specifically requested that the Subcommittee, chaired by FJATA, use the CPSC research to assist in developing the standard, further requesting an aggressive 24-hour agitated test (instead of the EN-71 2-hour test). Both sets of data agreed that cadmium does not migrate very well from metal and that product coatings have a larger effect on cadmium migration than does total content. The subcommittee adopted CPSC’s recommendations, and came to the conclusion that a 300ppm screening level, coupled with an optional migration test, would provide a very conservative limit for cadmium in children’s jewelry.
FJATA is working to amend the rule, in order to bring it into harmony with the ASTM Standard and to reduce the burden on manufacturers from conflicting regulations, while providing safe products to the market. Any low limit established by an individual state effectively establishes that limit for the whole country, given that products will not be manufactured to different specifications for different states.
Maryland House Bill 145, Full Text, History
