TESTS: New rules after huge levels of the deadly metal show up
SARAH SCHMIDT
Province
Dianna Peters, mother of nine-year old Kailey (left) and Amy, 7, suspects that the jewelry the girls are holding contain lead. — CNS
OTTAWA — Sixty per cent of children’s jewelry items tested at the government’s product-safety laboratory in the past two years had dangerous levels of lead — some comparable to lead car batteries.
Health Canada oversaw the targeted testing of 205 samples of suspicious items and identified 120 illegal products. The worst case was an item containing 92 per cent lead, suggesting the jewelry was made from old car batteries and other scrap lead.
Wearing jewelry made of lead is not a health risk, but lead poisoning can be fatal if children chew, suck or swallow it.
University of Toronto engineering professor Doug Perovic said the tests show lead levels in some of the jewelry are far worse than levels in old plumbing pipes.
“Who knows what these people are thinking. The stuff is thrown into a furnace, melted and cast into shapes of hearts and pendants,” Perovic said. “They’re putting on a thick coat of paint to make it look shiny and that’s it.”
The Health Canada data show 47 of 83 samples tested in 2006 exceeded the legal limit of .06 per cent lead, or 600 parts per million. Health Canada’s product safety lab tested another 108 samples for the 2007 survey, of which 67 had illegal levels.
The department said it followed up with the companies to ensure that the items were removed from sale and that “appropriate action was taken to advise parents and caregivers who may have purchased the product.”
Langley mother Dianna Peters is deeply troubled by the results. She has four children, including three daughters ages nine, seven and four, and has purchased earrings, necklaces, and bracelets for the girls at a popular jewelry store for girls and tweens.
“There’s no way I would buy them if I knew that they contained lead. What we’re buying should be safe. How do you know unless you have a lead test when you’re shopping?” said Peters.
She’s particularly concerned about her youngest girl. “Everything goes in the mouth. Even when she’s not thinking about it, she’ll be chewing on the necklaces.”
The testing of the suspect products was conducted after Health Canada toughened up regulations in April 2005, making it illegal for children’s jewelry items to contain more than .06 per cent lead.
Health Canada does not have the power to order a recall of products, including toys and jewelry, that violate the law, but can seize products from store shelves.
A new consumer-product safety law, to be tabled in Parliament today, will give officials the authority to issue mandatory product recalls when companies fail to act on legitimate safety concerns.
The bill provides for fines of up to $1 million for importers who bring the goods into Canada.
More than 65 per cent of products on store shelves in Canada are imports.
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