Consumer Product Safety Commission Moves to Ban Lead in Kids' Jewelry

FOXNews.com ^ | December 28, 2006 | Associated Press

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

WASHINGTON — A government regulatory agency has taken steps toward banning children's jewelry containing small amounts of lead, which was responsible for more than a dozen product recalls in the past two years.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to move forward in a process that could ultimately lead to a ban on children's jewelry containing more than .06 percent lead by weight. The commission currently has two members and one vacancy.

"Our goal is not to continue to do recall after recall," CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said. "We've had upwards of 14 recalls since 2004."

The commission's action was taken late Wednesday.

The CPSC works with companies to issue recalls when it finds consumer goods that can be harmful. Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than .06 percent lead are usually subject to a recall, in which the company must reimburse consumers for the value of the product, provide a replacement or offer a repair.

In March a Minnesota boy died of lead poisoning after swallowing a metal pendant from a charm bracelet that came with a pair of Reebok shoes. The incident resulted in a recall. In 2004, the CPSC issued the biggest recall in the agency's history — 150 million pieces of children's jewelry with unsafe lead levels.

Earlier this month the CPSC staff urged the commission to evaluate safety of children's jewelry by total lead content, and ban anything with more than .06 percent lead by weight.

Since February 2005, children's jewelry has been evaluated on both total lead content and on the percentage of lead considered "accessible" to children. But the accessibility of lead was the agency's primary safety concern. The proposed rule change would eliminate tests for accessible lead and judge safety solely on total lead content.

[nothingnew]

I used to eat lead paint flakes with milk and sugar when I grew up. My folks couldn't afford Frosted Flakes at the time.....I'm still here...And my grammar school, junior high school and high school were full of asbestos...I'm still here........go figure.

I never did swallow a metal pendant from a charm bracelet that came with a pair of Reebok shoes though....

FMCDH(BITS)

[saganite]

Next step will be to ban lead in ammo. Since I'm a reloader I expect that to increase my cost of shooting.

[GovernmentShrinker]

In March a Minnesota boy died of lead poisoning after swallowing a metal pendant from a charm bracelet that came with a pair of Reebok shoes.

I don't really get how restricting lead content of "children's jewelry" is going to fix this problem. First of all, defining "children's jewelry" will necessarily be an exercise in bureaucratic excess. But more substantively, kids who are too young and/or too stupid to refrain from swallowing random non-food objects are unlikely to distinguish between "children's jewelry" and any other small objects they may find. In the case cited above, it appears that the item was actually intended as children's jewelry (I'm thinking adults don't generally wear charm bracelets that come as a bonus in a box of sneakers), but it doesn't appear that the item was eaten by intended recipient (I'm thinking Reebok probably isn't sticking bonus charm bracelets in boxes of boys' sneakers), but rather that the kid was simply prone to swallowing small objects he found around the house. Needless to say, the chief source of lead poisoning in children has long been old lead paint, which was simply a standard household item, not a "children's" item.

[traditional1]

If only they would ban lead in the asses of Republicans in Congress!

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

"I used to eat lead paint flakes with milk and sugar when I grew up."

Uh... :)

[nothingnew]

"I used to eat lead paint flakes with milk and sugar when I grew up."

Uh... :)

Have you ever had them? Very good stuff, and colorful too.

FMCDH(BITS)