Popular jewelry and accessory retailers Ardene and Aldo Accessories have recently faced controversy due to the discovery that some of their products contain heavy amounts of cadmium.
Cadmium is a metal with many serious health risks for humans. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that cadmium is a probable human carcinogen and identifies it as having high levels of acute toxicity. Chronic effects of cadmium, according to the EPA, are kidney disease, as well as issues with the liver, lung, bone, immune system, blood and nervous system. This metal has been found in jewelry that is sold at a low price at popular retailers.
One of the major reasons for the prominence of cadmium in jewelry is its availability as an alternative to lead. As lead has become heavily regulated in Canada, jewelry companies have had to find alternatives to the metal, and cadmium has become one of these alternatives. However, while not as heavily controlled as lead, cadmium still presents many health concerns that make it a potentially dangerous substance.
“Some makers of low-cost jewelry may have turned to cadmium as a cheap alternative to lead, once the regulations [on lead] took hold” reports CBC.
Clik here to view.
Ardene storefront/ all-pix.com
Because cadmium is a relatively cheap metal, and also because it requires less energy to melt than common alternatives such as zinc, CBC reports that it is an appealing substance for manufacturers, despite its health risks.
What makes Ardene and Aldo particularly concerning is that their target demographic is mostly young girls, who also happen to be the group that is at the highest risk for problems associated with cadmium.
While there is no major risk from simply wearing the jewelry, CBC reports that there is a chance for the metal to seep into the body if someone puts the jewelry in their mouth. Because young children are more likely to chew on their jewelry or put it in their mouths, it is extremely risky for them to wear jewelry with high concentrations of cadmium (or any cadmium) in it. Despite these risks, however, popular retailers continue to sell jewelry with the dangerous metal in it and market these products to children.
Clik here to view.
Aldo storefront/ warosu.org
Besides simply the presence of cadmium in jewelry marketed towards young girls, these companies are also facing criticism over the amount of the metal. Rather than just containing moderately higher levels of the potentially toxic metal than average, some of the jewelry contains substantially high amounts of cadmium, up to several thousand times over the recommended limit.
“Researchers… tested the jewelry and found seven items from Ardene and Aldo Accessories contained between 15 and 7,000 times the Health Canada threshold for cadmium in children’s jewelry” reports CBC. “A shiny blue metal pendant on one Ardene necklace was nearly 100 per cent cadmium.”
Since the discovery and criticism of the cadmium amounts in these products, the retailers have responded. Aldo says that they intend to remove the items from their stores, while Ardene has agreed to pursue “future investigation.”
This is not the first time that Ardene has faced problems with the potential health implications of their products. Ardene has had five voluntary Health Canada recalls since 2007 related to either cadmium or lead, making this another incident in Ardene’s recurring issues with potentially dangerous jewelry. While shopping at cheaper stores such as Ardene may save a few bucks on fun accessories, recent incidents sug
The post Canadian retailers sold jewlery found to contain toxic metal appeared first on The Brock Press.