BILL ANALYSIS SB 929 SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman 2009-2010 Regular Session BILL NO: SB 929 AUTHOR: Pavley AMENDED: April 5, 2010 FISCAL: No HEARING DATE:April 19, 2010 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi Wagoner SUBJECT : HAZARDOUS MATERIALS: CHILDREN'S JEWELRY: HEAVY METALS SUMMARY : Existing federal law : 1)Requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to regulate the safety of consumer products including toys. 2)Pursuant to the Consumer Product Safety Act, provides protection of the public against unreasonable risks of injury associated with consumer products, largely by developing uniform safety standards for those products. 3)Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, enhances safety standards for consumer products, including new specified levels for lead and cadmium content in children's toys and increases enforcement and penalty provisions under the authority of the CPSC. 4)Under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), requires that certain hazardous household products bear cautionary labeling to alert consumers to the potential hazards that those products present and to inform them of the measures they need to protect themselves from those hazards. The FHSA gives the CPSC authority to ban by regulation a hazardous substance if it determines that the product is so hazardous that the cautionary labeling required is inadequate to protect the public. Any toy or other article that is intended for use by children and that contains a hazardous substance is also banned under the FHSA if a child SB 929 Page 2 can gain access to the substance. SB 929 Page 3 Existing California law : 1) Under Proposition 65 (the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986), lists toxins that are known to the state to cause cancer and reproductive damage. Cadmium is listed on the Proposition 65 list as both a carcinogen and a reproductive toxin. 2) Prohibits the manufacture, shipping, sale, or offering for sale of jewelry, children's jewelry, or jewelry used in body piercing that is not made entirely from certain specified materials and specifically restricts the amount of lead that may be contained in jewelry intended for use by both children and adults. The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is responsible for enforcement of these provisions. This bill : 1) Prohibits the manufacturing, shipping, selling or offering for sale or for promotional purposes children's jewelry containing cadmium. 2) Prohibits a manufacturer from replacing cadmium with known carcinogens or reproductive toxicants as defined. 3) Allows DTSC to enforce the above provisions when enforcing the lead jewelry restrictions. COMMENTS : 1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, SB 929 is a child safety measure that seeks to protect toddlers and young children from cadmium, a toxic metal that has been found increasingly in chilrdern's jewelry. The author states that this a cleanup measure to AB 1681 (Pavley) Chapter 415, Statutes of 2006, which banned lead in jewelry for both children and adults. The author states that SB 929 responds to recent findings that show jewelry manufacturers are replacing lead with cadmium instead of using less toxic alternatives. Like lead, cadmium is a heavy metal that can hinder brain SB 929 Page 4 development in children. It is also a known carcinogen and reproductive toxicant. According to the author, while the CPSC has the authority to go after items with high cadmium content under the FHSA, the agency has never pursued an enforcement action against a product with high levels of the heavy metal, until it recently recalled a handful of specific jewelry items highlighted in a recent Associated Press investigation. The agency now recommends that parents dispose of any piece of inexpensive metal jewelry. The author states that several retailers, including Wal-Mart and Claries, have pulled cadmium tainted jewelry off store shelves. The Walt Disney Co. has release a letter to vendors setting a zero tolerance policy for cadmium in any children's jewelry bearing its brand and K-Mart has pulled Hello Kitty merchandise from its inventory. 2)What is cadmium? Cadmium is a natural element in the earth's crust. It is usually found as a mineral combined with other elements such as oxygen (cadmium oxide), chlorine (cadmium chloride), or sulfur (cadmium sulfate, cadmium sulfide). All soils and rocks, including coal and mineral fertilizers, contain some cadmium. Most cadmium used in the United States is extracted during the production of other metals like zinc, lead, and copper. Cadmium does not corrode easily and has many uses, including batteries, pigments, metal coatings, and plastics. 3)Health impacts of cadmium . Breathing high levels of cadmium can severely damage the lungs. Eating food or drinking water with very high levels severely irritates the stomach, leading to vomiting and diarrhea. Long-term exposure to lower levels of cadmium in air, food, or water leads to a buildup of cadmium in the kidneys and possible kidney disease. Other long-term effects are lung damage and fragile bones. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that cadmium and cadmium compounds are known human carcinogens. According to the CSPC, cadmium does not have to be ingested by children for them to be exposed to the metal. They SB 929 Page 5 simply have to bite or suck on jewelry items to be exposed to a high level of the element. Studies show that cadmium can remain in the human body for more than two decades. 4)Health impacts of cadmium exposure on children . The health effects in children are expected to be similar to the effects seen in adults (kidney, lung, and bone damage depending on the route of exposure). Some studies in animals indicate that younger animals absorb more cadmium than adults. Animal studies also indicate that the young are more susceptible than adults to a loss of bone and decreased bone strength from exposure to cadmium. We don't know if cadmium causes birth defects in people. The babies of animals exposed to high levels of cadmium during pregnancy had changes in behavior and learning ability. There is also some information from animal studies that high enough exposures to cadmium before birth can reduce body weights and affect the skeleton in the developing young. 5)Related legislation . AB 1681 (Pavley) Chapter 415, Statutes of 2006, restricted lead in jewelry for children and adults. AB 2901 (Brownley) Chapter 575, Statutes of 2008, clarified DTSC's enforcement authority to enter locations and obtain samples of suspect lead jewelry and packaging. H.R. 3328 (Speier) would prohibit the manufacture and sale of children's jewelry containing cadmium, barium or antimony. This measure is currently pending in Congress. S. 2975 (Shumer) would prohibit the manufacture and sale of children's jewelry containing cadmium, barium or antimony. This measure is currently pending in Congress. 6)Other states' measures on cadmium in jewelry . Washington state enacted a ban in 2008 on cadmium in children's products greater than 40 parts per million. There are seven other states currently considering bans on cadmium in children's jewelry: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York. 7)Proponents' arguments . According to the sponsors, over the last several decades, children have faced an increasingly SB 929 Page 6 challenging time just making it through what should be normal stages of growth and development. Incidences of reproductive defects, childhood obesity, early onset puberty, learning disabilities and many other chronic health problems are on the rise. The sponsor asserts that many of these problems have been linked with exposure to toxic chemicals. Of particular concern for the sponsors are those toxic chemicals found in products children use and play with every day, such as their toys and potentially jewelry. In 2006, California enacted the first law in the nation which banned the powerful neurotoxin, lead, in both adult and children's jewelry in California. Two years later, because of increasing concerns across the nation, the federal government enacted strict lead limits nationwide in children's toys and products. We are now learning that some foreign manufacturers are replacing one dangerous metal; lead, with another, cadmium. Alarmingly, one U.S. investigation in January revealed some bracelets and other pendants contained cadmium levels as high as 60 and 90 percent by weight. In response, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2010 released a safety alert when they discovered the extremely high cadmium concentrations in children's jewelry. While the 2008 federal regulations limit cadmium concentrations in toy coatings, there is no limit or ban on cadmium in children's jewelry. The sponsor asserts that this loophole must be closed. 8)Traceable levels . Similar to the statute concerning lead in jewelry, should this bill have a threshold level for cadmium that accounts for detectability? Both the federal toy standard for cadmium and the Washington State jewelry standard set threshold levels of 75 parts per million (ppm) and 40 ppm respectively. A standard of 75 parts per million by weight would assist in ensuring enforceability of the standard. 9)Green Chemistry . The Green Chemistry Initiative and the related programs are intended to identify and prioritize chemicals and products of concern. Since cadmium is an SB 929 Page 7 already known carcinogen and reproductive toxicant, and safer alternatives for jewelry are known, the author believes that immediate legislative action is warranted, rather than waiting for these products to be drawn into the green chemistry regulatory scheme. However, an amendment should clarify that nothing in this bill prevents DTSC from considering cadmium, or cadmium in jewelry, and potential alternatives as part of the green chemistry process. SOURCE : American Association of University Women Center for Environmental Health SUPPORT : Environment California Environmental Working Group Sierra Club OPPOSITION : None of file