BILL ANALYSIS
SB 929
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Date of Hearing: June 29, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
SB 929 (Pavley) - As Amended: April 22, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 26-10
SUBJECT : Hazardous materials: children's jewelry: cadmium.
SUMMARY : Prohibits a person from manufacturing, shipping, or
selling children's jewelry that contains cadmium. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Prohibits a person from manufacturing, shipping, selling,
offering for sale, or offering for promotional purposes
children's jewelry that contains cadmium equal to, or in
excess of, 75 parts per million (ppm) total weight.
2)Prohibits a manufacturer from replacing cadmium with either of
the following:
a) A carcinogen or reproductive toxicant, as identified or
rated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(US EPA) as carcinogenic to humans, likely to be
carcinogenic to humans, or possessing evidence suggestive
of carcinogenic potential.
b) A carcinogen or reproductive toxicant as listed under
the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986
(Proposition 65).
3)Provides that DTSC may consider children's jewelry containing
cadmium as a product category subject to DTSC's implementation
of the Green Chemistry law.
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4)Provides that this bill does not prohibit DTSC from adopting a
stricter standard for children's jewelry containing cadmium
pursuant to regulations adopted pursuant to Green Chemistry
law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) :
a) Requires that certain hazardous household products bear
cautionary labeling to alert consumers to the potential
hazards of those products.
b) Authorizes the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) to ban, by regulation, a hazardous substance if it
determines that the product is so hazardous that cautionary
labeling is inadequate.
c) Bans any toy or other article that is intended for use
by children and that contains a hazardous substance if a
child can gain access to the substance.
2)Under the Federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of
2008 : Sets limits for cadmium content in consumer products
intended for use by children.
3)Under state law:
a) Lists, under Proposition 65, chemicals that are known to
the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
Cadmium and cadmium compounds are listed on the Proposition
65 list as both carcinogens and reproductive toxins.
b) 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 (sets standards for lead in jewelry).
Authorizes DTSC to enforce these provisions.
c) Prohibits the sale or offering for promotional purposes
a package, packaging component, or product in a package
that contains cadmium. Authorizes DTSC to enforce these
provisions.
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d) Requires DTSC to identify and prioritize chemicals of
concern and to adopt regulations to evaluate chemicals of
concern in consumer products in order to determine how best
to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by
a chemical of concern. Authorizes DTSC to take regulatory
actions to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard
posed by a chemical of concern.
FISCAL EFFECT : None.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the 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
children's jewelry. The bill is a clean-up measure to Senator
Pavley's AB 1681, Chapter 415, and Statutes of 2006, which
banned lead in jewelry for both children and adults in
California. SB 929 responds to recent findings that show
jewelry manufacturers are replacing lead with cadmium instead of
using less toxic alternatives.
The author contends that while the CPSC has the authority to
regulate 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.
Cadmium and human health : Cadmium is a soft, blue-white
malleable, lustrous metal or a grayish-white powder that is
insoluble in water and reacts readily with dilute nitric acid.
A primary use for cadmium metal is as an anticorrosive,
electroplated onto steel. Cadmium may serve as an electrode
component in alkaline batteries and may be used in alloys,
silver solders, and welding.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services,
breathing high levels of cadmium can severely damage the lungs.
Eating food or drinking water with very high levels of cadmium
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
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possible kidney disease. Other long-term effects include
fragile bones. Under Proposition 65, cadmium and cadmium
compounds are listed as chemicals known to the State to cause
cancer and reproductive toxicity.
The health effects of cadmium exposure in children are expected
to be similar to the effects seen in adults (kidney, lung, and
bone damage depending on the route of exposure). A few 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. The CPSC recently
declared that swallowing, sucking on or chewing a metal charm or
necklace could result in exposure to cadmium or other heavy
metals which are known to be toxic at certain levels of
exposure.
Cadmium in children's products : This year, a rash of children's
products has been found to contain cadmium. This month,
McDonalds announced a recall of 12 million drinking glasses due
to cadmium concerns. In May, the CPSC announced a recall of
19,000 charm bracelets because of high levels of cadmium. An
Associated Press investigation in January tested 103 products
for sale in four states and found 12 percent contained at least
10 percent cadmium, and some pieces contained more than 80
percent cadmium by weight.
Other states' action on cadmium in children's jewelry :
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 20
bills in 9 states aim to regulate cadmium in children's jewelry
and toys following recent recalls and findings that the toxic
metal was present in consumer products for sale in the United
States. Connecticut's H.B. 5314, which was signed into law this
month, prohibits children's jewelry if it contains cadmium at
more than .0075 percent by weight. Illinois' H.B. 5040, which
is awaiting action by the governor, prohibits children's jewelry
if it contains cadmium in any surface coating in excess of 75
ppm. In addition, in 2008, as part of a broader "Toxic Toys"
law, Washington enacted a ban on children's products, including
jewelry, which contains greater than 40 ppm cadmium by weight.
Federal action on cadmium in children's jewelry : Two bills,
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H.R. 4428 (Speier) and S. 2975 (Shumer), would prohibit the
manufacture and sale of children's jewelry containing cadmium,
barium or antimony. These measures are pending in Congress.
Testing methods : Currently, DTSC uses the US EPA test methods
referenced in statute for lead in jewelry and not the ASTM F-963
test method proposed by opponents. The US EPA test methods
require a more aggressive acid digestion test. The ASTM F-963
test, which is a method used by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission, has a weaker acid test that mimics actual exposures.
Using the US EPA methods in statute for testing for cadmium
would simplify testing because the sample could be prepared and
tested once.
California's Green Chemistry Initiative: As part of the Green
Chemistry Initiative, the Governor signed AB 1879 (Feuer and
Huffman) Chapter 559, Statutes of 2008, into law in 2009. AB
1879 requires DTSC to adopt regulations by January 1, 2011, to
identify and prioritize chemicals of concern, to evaluate
alternatives, and to specify regulatory responses where
chemicals of concern are found in consumer products. The Green
Chemistry program should yield a comprehensive process to
identify and regulate chemicals of concern in products; however,
regulations are not yet finalized and chemicals are not yet
being considered.
Standards in the bill : This bill sets a cadmium standard for
children's jewelry at 75 ppm by weight, which is the same
standard set in the recently passed Connecticut bill. According
to the author's office, "the 75 ppm standard is a jewelry
concentration limit that is derived from the EPA health-based
standard for daily intake dose of cadmium and other existing
public health-based standards for cadmium which study specific
health endpoints. This standard makes assumptions about the
likely weight of toys and likely amount of cadmium in/on the
toy. It is adjusted for children's extra sensitivity and how
much they're likely to play with the jewelry."
Is it appropriate to set standards in statute, where they cannot
be readily adjusted after consideration of new scientific
evidence or of advances in technology, or is it more effective
to set standards through the existing regulatory process, which
is more dynamic?
Support : Supporters argue that SB 929 is an unfortunately
necessary follow-up to Senator Pavley's legislation of 2006, AB
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1681, which put into law a prohibition on lead in children's
jewelry. They contend that the passage and signing of AB 1681
has resulted in a large reduction in the exposure of children to
the toxic metal lead. Regrettably, they say, some manufacturers
have substituted lead with yet another very toxic substance,
cadmium. Supporters note that cadmium currently ranks seventh
on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the
environment. They also note that according to the Consumer
Products Safety Commission, cadmium does not have to be ingested
by children for them to be exposed to the metal. Children
simply have to bite or suck on the jewelry items to be exposed
to a high level of the element.
Opposition : The opposition argues that cadmium has long been a
component in solders used to join jewelry components (in both
fine and fashion jewelry), typically at a level of about 300
ppm, because these solders melt and flow at lower temperatures.
They contend that the level of cadmium that could possibly be
related to public health, especially children's health, depends
on the amount of cadmium to which a child could be exposed.
Limiting exposure, they argue, and not total weight, is the key
to protecting human health. They also contend that the standard
in the bill would result in their members not being able to sell
fashion or precious metal children's jewelry in California, thus
leaving the market to those small producers and foreign
manufacturers who typically ignore these laws.
Related legislation :
SB 1365 (Corbett). Authorizes the Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC) to enforce existing toy safety laws.
Pending consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1681 (Pavley) Chapter 415, Statutes of 2006. Bans lead in
jewelry for children and adults. Codifies a global legal
settlement reached in a Proposition 65 case between the Center
for Environmental Health, the Attorney General and retailer and
wholesaler defendants.
AB 2901 (Brownley) Chapter 575, Statutes of 2008. Clarifies the
Department of Toxic Substance Control's enforcement authority
and its authority to enter locations and obtain samples of
jewelry and packaging.
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Recommended amendments : The Committee may wish to consider
amendments to fully integrate the provisions in the bill for
cadmium in children's jewelry with existing statue regulating
lead in jewelry, including providing clear authority to DTSC to
enforce the provisions of the bill. The Committee may also wish
to consider amendments that clarify that the parties that are
signatories to the amended consent judgment relating to lead in
jewelry must comply with the provisions of the bill relating to
cadmium.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support:
Center for Environmental Health (sponsor)
American Association of University Women (cosponsor)
American Cancer Society
Breast Cancer Fund
CALPIRG
Clean Water Action
Consumers Union
Environmental Working Group
Environment California
Healthy Child/Healthy World
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles
Sierra Club California
Opposition:
Fashion Jewelry and Accessories Trade Association
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965