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
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can gain access to the substance.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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