California environmental enforcers have pressured retailers to immediately pull from shelves several children's jewelry pieces that tested illegally high for lead, a toxic metal linked to several health problems.
The action was announced Wednesday during the peak of a holiday shopping season already laden with consumer warnings over contaminants in toys.
The 16 red-flagged trinkets, which include a "Molly 'N Me" necklace and a "Best Friends Two" bracelet, represent more than one-third of the first 46 children's ornaments that state Department of Toxic Substances Control officials recently collected from chain stores, including three in the Sacramento area.
The results are especially disappointing in light of the recent spate of well-publicized lawsuits and recalls involving lead-tainted toys, lunchboxes and baby gear, officials said.
"The problem is much more pervasive than we would like to be seeing," Department Director Maureen Gorsen said in a media teleconference call Wednesday.
The agency tested the items under the California Lead- Containing Jewelry Law, which took effect Sept. 1. The law limits lead in the metallic material of children's bracelets, rings and other trinkets to 600 parts per million. A separate state law prohibits the sale of toys and children's jewelry containing lead paint.
A number of jewelry manufacturers, distributors and retailers had already agreed to comply with these restrictions in a 2006 California court settlement.
On March 1, similar limits will apply to adult jewelry, including body-piercing ornaments.
The test results announced Wednesday ranged from 686 ppm lead in a bracelet set bought at a Dollar Tree store in Rancho Cordova to a "somewhat alarming" 368,000 ppm – essentially solid lead – in a necklace with pendant in a gumball machine inside a Church's Fried Chicken in Oakland, Gorsen said.
Ingested lead from jewelry-to-mouth contact can cause a host of problems, ranging from decreased intelligence and reading disabilities to organ failure and even death, studies show.
Infants and children under 7 can absorb at least three times as much lead into their blood as adults, according to a 1994 study by the International Programme on Chemical Safety.
Toxics Control sent violation notices last week to the 11 stores carrying the jewelry pieces that tested above the legal limit, including a cross necklace at the Wishing Well in the Roseville Square shopping center and a necklace with leaf charms at Gap Kids in the Roseville Galleria. A necklace and bracelet set at Marshalls on Roseville Galleria Boulevard in Roseville also made the state's violation list.
"All of the retailers are taking the items off the shelves," Gorsen said.
Retailers, distributors and suppliers of children's jewelry can be penalized up to $2,500 a day for each product type found to exceed the legal lead limit, officials said. So far, none has been fined.
Inspectors bought about 375 pieces of kids' jewelry for lead testing from a broad cross-section of stores, including 24 in the Sacramento area.
Results of tests will be made public as they become available, officials said. Investigators plan to track down and notify the distributors and suppliers of the illegal goods for possible enforcement action, Gorsen said.
Call The Bee's Chris Bowman, (916) 321-1069.
