bling is banned

Last week, research on children’s toys showed high levels of toxic material, such as lead.

In a similar study, on costume jewelry, lead content exceeded the allowable limits per Proposition 65. Five percent of the jewelry, from stores such asWal-Mart, Banana Republic, Lane Bryant and Express, were found with higher than acceptable limits.

According to Prop 65 the amount of lead in the coating of children’s jewelry must be limited to 600 parts per million, according to a state law that went into effect in September 2007.

Lead is known to cause cancer and reproductive problems, as well as mental and physical retardation.

A surface coating on a frog charm on a Wal-Mart brand child’s necklace contained 37 percent lead, or more than 600 times the legal limit. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company directed stores in California to remove this item from shelves and blocked its sale at registers as it investigates further.

Once again, it seems as though our children are going to suffer from the result of limited compliance from manufacturers. The products being tested are heavily marketed to children as cheap accessories that update their clothes. There seems to be a lot of evidence recently that the chemicals and toxins allowed in products are hurting our male population, who knows what kind of impact we are going to see on females because of similar issues.

The article can be found HERE, via the San Francisco Chronicle