Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front on Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, launching inquiries into high levels of cadmium in children’s jewelry, while Wal-Mart pulled many suspect items from its store shelves.
A day after The Associated Press documented the contamination in an investigative report, the top US consumer safety regulator warned Asian manufacturers not to substitute other toxins for lead in children’s charm bracelets and pendants.
Regulators and lawmakers reacted swiftly to the report, which found that some Chinese manufacturers have been using cadmium, sometimes at extraordinarily high levels. Congress clamped down on lead in those products in 2008, but cadmium is even more harmful.
Melissa Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, called the findings “troubling.” She said the company, which is the world’s largest retailer, had a special responsibility “to take swift action, and we are doing so.”
Members of Congress voiced anger about the imports. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said he was reviewing the law that regulates such substances to decide if a fix is needed.
Cadmium, which is known to cause cancer, is a soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil. It is perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic.
Cadmium is attractive to Chinese manufacturers because it is cheap and easy to work with. But, like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, recent research shows.
In taped remarks to be delivered yesterday in Hong Kong, the chairwoman of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission urged other countries to ensure that manufacturers do not substitute cadmium, antimony or barium in place of lead in children’s products.
“All of us should be committed to keeping hazardous or toxic levels of heavy metals out of … toys and children’s products,” Inez Tenenbaum said in a transcript of remarks to an international toy safety conference.
Tenenbaum singled out cadmium for special vigilance and said: “Voluntary efforts will only take us so far.”
The commission immediately said it was opening an investigation into the report’s findings, promising to “take action as quickly as possible to protect the safety of children.”
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also said on Monday that his office would investigate cadmium content in some products, particularly costume jewelry.
Blumenthal would not say whether he’s investigating particular merchants. Rather than “singling out any stores, we’re interested in any retail outlets that sell jewelry that may have cadmium,” he said.
New York state Senator James Alesi said he will introduce legislation to ban the sale of cadmium in jewelry in his state.
“We must act immediately to keep this contaminated jewelry out of the hands of children and reduce their exposure to toxic substances,” said Alesi, a Republican.
Children can be exposed by sucking or biting such jewelry. But without direct exposure, most people do not experience its worst effects: cancer, kidneys that leak vital protein and bones that spontaneously snap.
The worrisome results came in tests of bracelet charms sold at Walmart stores, at the jewelry chain Claire’s and at a Dollar N More store. High amounts of cadmium also were detected in The Princess and The Frog movie-themed pendants.
US-based trade groups, as well as distributors and sellers of the jewelry containing cadmium, said their products meet safety standards. Cadmium is regulated in painted toys but not in jewelry.
A cadmium specialist with the Beijing office of Asian Metal Ltd, a market research and consultancy firm, said products with cadmium are normally directed to the Chinese domestic market.
“This is just the latest example of the need for stronger consumer safety laws in this country, especially for products manufactured and marketed for children, and shows yet again why products from China should be subject to additional scrutiny,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat.
“Between children’s jewelry, tainted milk and contaminated pet food, China has a long record of producing unsafe products, and the US should continue to be wary of all products arriving from China,” DeLauro said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS