BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 929|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 929
Author: Pavley (D), et al
Amended: 4/22/10
Vote: 21
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/19/10
AYES: Simitian, Lowenthal, Pavley, Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Corbett, Hancock
SUBJECT : Hazardous materials: childrens jewelry: heavy
metals
SOURCE : American Association of University Women
Center for Environmental Health
DIGEST : This bill prohibits the manufacturing, shipping,
selling, or offering for sale, or offering for promotional
purposes childrens jewelry containing cadmium equal to, or
in excess of, 75 parts per million total weight. This bill
also prohibits a manufacturer from replacing cadmium with
certain carcinogens or reproductive toxicants.
ANALYSIS :
Existing federal law:
1. Requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
to regulate the safety of consumer products including
toys.
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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 can gain access to the
substance.
Existing state 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:
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1. Prohibits the manufacturing, shipping, selling or
offering for sale or for promotional purposes children's
jewelry containing cadmium in an amount equal to, or in
excess of, 75 parts per million total weight.
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.
4. Authorizes DTSC to consider children's jewelry
containing cadmium as a product category in its
implementation of the Green Chemistry Program.
5. Provides that DTSC shall not be prohibited from adopting
a stricter standard for children's jewelry containing
cadmium, pursuant to regulations adopted under the Green
Chemistry Program.
Background
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. It is
unknown 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.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill 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's office
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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's office states that this bill 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 development in children. It is also a known
carcinogen and reproductive toxicant.
According to the author's office, 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/22/10)
American Association of University Women (co-source)
Center for Environmental Health (co-source)
California Public Interest Research Group
Clean Water Action
Consumers Union
Environment California
Environmental Working Group
Green California
Healthy Child, Healthy World
Physicians for Social Responsibility- Los Angeles
Sierra Club
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the bill's sponsors,
over the last several decades, children have faced an
increasingly 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
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chronic health problems are on the rise. The sponsors
assert 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.
It is now being learned that some foreign manufacturers are
replacing one dangerous metal lead, with another, cadmium.
Alarmingly, one United States investigation in January
revealed some bracelets and other pendants contained
cadmium levels as high as 60 and 90 percent by weight.
In response, the United States 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
sponsors assert that this loophole must be closed.
TSM:mw 4/22/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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