The day that cadmium jewelry became the new lead paint felt like the day to throw up one’s hands. How does one keep track of all the toxins, the endocrine disruptors, the chemicals that collect in our blood streams when they really belong in a jet engine?
As if on cue, a group of UC San Francisco scientists culled the latest research and created a to-the-point pamphlet advising folks how to avoid industrializing their insides.
A few of their suggestions surprised me:
- Get out the wet mop. The researchers say that just moving dust around the home doesn’t get rid of traces of pesticides and lead.
- Avoid the dry cleaner altogether. The scientists suggest washing dry-clean-only clothes in water by hand.
- Don’t microwave food in plastic, but rather in glass containers that won’t leach any harmful chemicals.
- Check your cosmetics. The researchers suggest Web sites that evaluate individual products based on the safety of their ingredients.
The researchers did not discuss cadmium, the newest chemical identified as a potential hazard.
The Associated Press has written articles noting that cadmium has been found in children’s toys and jewelry on the shelves at WalMart and Claire’s jewelry stores.
Here’s what the AP reported about cadmium:
A soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil, cadmium is perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic. Low-cost jewelry makers find cadmium attractive because it is cheap and easy to work with…. Children can be exposed by sucking or biting such jewelry. But without direct exposure, most people do not experience its worst effects: cancer, kidneys that leak vital protein and bones that spontaneously snap.
Consider me duly warned – no bit of jewelry is worth snacking on if my femur is going to snap like an icicle. But how can kids, those truly at risk, avoid the stuff? The Consumer Products Safety Commission sent a blunt message in a guide for parents: Take cheap metal jewelry away.
Meanwhile, at least one legislator is seeking to take the cadmium-laced jewelry off the shelves for good, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported yesterday.
On Wednesday at Mt. Hope Plaza in Rochester, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced his proposed legislation to ban the toxic metal from children's toys, regardless of where they are made. Schumer said he wanted to introduce the bill in the next month and have it approved by unanimous consent, "which is the only quick way to do things in the Senate."
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