Regulation for cadmium

Cadmium caused the recall of at least 150,000 pieces of children’s jewelry in 2010 and the death of a child in 2006.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) argues that voluntary standards by ASTM International, which tests consumer products, will curb the problems, but we’re skeptical that voluntary standards will carry more weight than hard and fast CPSC rules would.

As of press time, ASTM International had a deadline of Dec. 16, 2011, to publish standards for the acceptable amount of cadmium that can be found in both children’s toys and children’s jewelry. If ASTM International didn’t meet that deadline, CPSC would enforce its own mandatory regulation, but CPSC spokesperson Scott Wolfman told Consumers Digest last October that ASTM International likely would meet the deadline.

Wolfman says he is confident that ASTM International’s standards can be as strictly enforced as a mandatory regulation by CPSC would. He says CPSC has carried out recalls that are based on voluntary standards (see “CPSC clarifies ban”), and CPSC will encourage surveillance both in the marketplace and at shipping ports to try to bar children’s products that contain cadmium.

Even though voluntary standards can trigger recalls, that means that products made it to store shelves. Wolfman said in October that no cadmium-related jewelry recalls took place in 2011, but we wonder if a CPSC directive would better maintain that record beyond 2012.