Overview

As you are probably aware, public concern over the potential safety risks from toxic metal content in fashion jewelry reached a high point in 2007. This is particularly true for those items marketed to children, and has resulted in recent legislation that has great impact for both businesses and consumers worldwide. A broad sampling of "children's jewelry items" from the retail marketplace, the majority of which have been imported from China and India, have tested positive for dangerously high levels of lead and resulted in the recall of million of items. The concern over the safety of the metal content in fashion jewelry has not been isolated to the United States. Most of the countries around the world have standards against which to measure the safety of the metal content of jewelry and/or its components. Outside the United States, limits of potentially toxic metal content in "children's jewelry" tend to be covered under toy safety standards. Testing protocols and result reporting for potentially toxic metals such as lead are often based on the International Organization for Standardization - ISO 8124-3: 1997 Guidelines.

TierraCast offers the information in this section to you, the business and consumer public, in an effort to provide accurate details about those standards and to verify that its metal products meet (and in most cases) exceed the standards set to protect the public. During our own research we have found that this information can be complicated and/or confusing. We have done our best to provide all appropriate details, as well as supply direct links to primary sources should you wish to research the information further.

In reviewing this information, you'll note that many standards imposed by various countries make a distinction between the safety standards required for items sold as "children's jewelry" (usually those items specially designed and targeted to children in a variety of age brackets) and those available to the general, "adult" population. TierraCast has always operated from the position that ALL of its products should be safe in any market and does not produce a two-tier product line, but rather manufactures cast metal components that meet "children's jewelry" metal content safety standards. This approach eliminates the concern that items intended for "adults" may unintentionally be handled by younger children.

More detailed explanations of the standards in force in various countries around the world, and statements of TierraCast's compliance with those standards, have been grouped as follows:

• United States - Federal and State Standards
• European Union Standards
• Other International Standards

TierraCast provides this information as a public service and believes that it is substantially true and correct. It is not provided as a legal opinion and should not be relied upon as such by businesses in their efforts to comply with current legislation in any country.