There's good news and bad news this week from the imported metal jewelry front. The good news is that American laws restricting the occurance of lead in jewelry -- especially kids' jewelry -- seem to be succeeding in decreasing the use of lead in jewelry parts. The bad news is that some Chinese manufacturers are using carcinogenic cadmium instead.

Photo Crushed Metal by tanakawho on Flickr.

Cadmium?! The last time I dealt with cadmium, I was performing environmental health audits for manufacturing facilities at a military installation. I honestly had no idea cadmium would be used to make jewelry components.

According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Organization (OSHA):

Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal commonly found in industrial workplaces, particularly where any ore is being processed or smelted. Due to its low permissible exposure limit (PEL), overexposures may occur even in situations where trace quantities of cadmium are found in the parent ore or smelter dust. . . . Cadmium is also present in the manufacture of some types of batteries. Cadmium emits a characteristic brown fume (CdO) upon heating. . . .

The Associated Press reports that cadmium is also "shiny, strong and malleable at low temperatures . . . . [a]nd it's cheap." That apparently explains why some Chinese manufacturers are using it.

To date Walmart and Claires have pulled jewelry inventory that may be affected. We'll see if any other retailers follow suit.

Should handmade jewelry crafters be concerned about this? I don't know for sure. But I suspect you can protect yourself by using simple common sense:

• Only purchase raw materials from reputable suppliers.
• Understand that the material referred to as "base metal" or "pot metal" is always potentially suspect because it is an alloy (mixture) of different types of cheap metals in varying proportions; it typically requires a lab test to confirm exactly what's in it.
  
• If a component is labeled as being made from base metal, ask the supplier whether it has been lab tested for cadmium, lead, or other toxic materials -- or simply avoid buying base metal altogether.
  
• Avoid purchasing large, odd lots of metal components from unfamiliar suppliers on eBay or other marketplace sites.

Now that's it's been identified, this crazy use of cadmium should start to get under control. But it makes you wonder what they'll try to throw at us next.