Tainted kids’ jewelry ordered off shelves
Los Angeles Times, CA
Lead-laced items are found in 11 California stores, including Macy’s and Gap Kids. State regulators tell the retailers to remove the products.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:22 PM PST, December 12, 2007
SACRAMENTO — Children’s jewelry with as much as 600 times the legal limit for lead contamination was found at 11 shops around California, including at Macy’s and a Gap Kids store, and ordered off the shelves — at the peak of the Christmas shopping rush, state toxic regulators said today.
FOR THE RECORD:
An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of lead contamination found in children’s jewelry at 11 shops.The most found was as much as 600 times the legal limit, not more than 600 times the legal limit.
Lead-laced rings, bracelets, barrettes and necklaces were among the items purchased in recent weeks by secret shoppers from the state Department of Toxic Substances. In addition to Macy’s and the Gap Kids stores, regulators also found items at “Hello Kitty” outlets, Dollar Tree, Marshalls, and at a shop at Universal Studios.
All retailers were contacted last week and ordered to remove the tainted items from shelves and display racks as part of a crackdown authorized by a new state law that took effect Sept. 1.
“Exposure to excessive amounts of lead poses serious health risks to children,” said Maureen Gorsen, director of Toxic Substances Control. “Lead in jewelry is a particular concern because children often place jewelry in their mouths.”
Public health officials warn that the ingestion of even minute quantities of lead can cause development defects and serious health problems, especially for children.
The first phase of the new enforcement program was put into action quickly to provide parents with a warning before the end of the Christmas shopping season, Gorsen said. “We focused on retailers who sell a lot of children’s jewelry, and obviously we are finding levels that are somewhat alarming.”
Lab tests of the items bought by random state shoppers found unsafe lead levels in about one-third of 375 items. Six hundred parts per million is the threshold of safety, the state says.
Lead content ranged from a low of 686 parts per million in a barrette-bracelet set at a Dollar Tree store in Rancho Cordova, a Sacramento suburb, to a high of 368,000 parts per million in a necklace with pendant that was a prize in a gum-ball machine in a Church’s Fried Chicken store in Oakland.
In Southern California, inspectors purchased a number of the lead-laced bangles at stores in the Glendale Galleria: Sanrio Surprises, Macy’s and Gap Kids.
People who have purchased lead tainted jewelry from any of the stores should return them for a refund, Gorsen said. More information on the lead jewelry is available at www.dtsc.ca.gov/LeadinJewelry.cfm.
