- SAFETY COMPLIANCE:
- United States
Overview
The legal system in the United States allows individual states to adopt local laws to protect the public when those laws do not contradict federal law. Unfortunately in the case of developing protection from toxic metals in jewelry, the process is currently so much in flux that many gaps and overlaps exist. The federal government appears to be moving toward a national standard that limits toxic metals in jewelry, particularly for lead content, but many states have already moved to adopt appropriate legislation. As the process develops it would be expected that some uniform standards would be adopted to allow consistent inter-state commerce. As of January 2008, that uniformity does not yet exist and consideration must then be made for both federal and individual state requirements.
Federal
In December of 2007, the United States government began the process of adopting legislation that would limit the amount of lead in children's jewelry on a national level. This legislation was developed, in part, to protect children from lead in jewelry products marketed directly to young children. This bill was enacted on August 14, 2008 as the Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008 (HR 4040).
This law goes into effect on February 10, 2009 and in its final form now limits the lead content in “children’s jewelry” to the following standards outlined in Title 1- Section 101.
- 600 ppm lead effective February 10, 2009.
- 300 ppm lead effective August 2009.
- 100 ppm lead (if determined feasible) as of August 2011.
This Section also specifically prohibits consideration of plating or painting as a means of preventing access to high levels of lead in a product. "Children" are defined as 12 years of age or younger.
Until such time as these limits become law, the existing CPSC "Interim Policy" appears to be the currently applicable federal standard. This standard, issued on March 3, 2005 as the Interim Enforcement Policy for Children's Metal Jewelry Containing Lead sets the following:
- 600 ppm (.06%) of lead content as the threshold of enforcement. If an item of "children's" jewelry is found to contain more than 600 ppm, it is subject to the second test to determine its accessible lead level.
- If the second test for "accessible lead" returns a value equal to, or greater than, 175 micrograms/day, the agency terms the item hazardous to health and will consider corrective action.
The extension of this policy is unclear as to its applicability to jewelry for "adults and others".
California
Beginning in 1986, the State of California led the nation in adopting legislation to protect the public from toxic chemicals and materials in consumer products. Proposition 65 established the basis upon which the State Attorney General's Office successfully sued major retailers for failure to properly label potentially hazardous jewelry items marketed to children. Building on this precedent, the State of California passed legislation that became CA Health & Safety Code Section 25214.1. The State of California has established a web page, "Lead in Jewelry", that provides details of the law and commentary about testing and compliance imposing legal limits on lead content in jewelry marketed to children as well as to the general public. As of September 1, 2007, those limits are currently in force for "children's jewelry" and came into effect for lead content in jewelry to the general public as of March 1, 2008.
As a state law, this legislation only covers products manufactured, shipped to or sold in California, yet it has set the tone for other states to consider, and usually pass, substantially similar legislation, often using the same limits for lead content. The California law currently sets the most stringent limits in the nation by phasing in requirements that sets maximum lead content levels at .06% (600 ppm) for "children's jewelry" and between 1.5% and 10% for all other types.
While the new California law regulates lead content in a variety of materials, the aspects relating to cast pewter jewelry components can be summarized as follows:
- As of September 1, 2007, the lead content allowed in "children's jewelry" is limited to no greater than .06% (600 ppm).
- As of March 1, 2008, any electroplated metal jewelry component may not exceed a lead level of 10% (100,000 ppm).
- As of March 1, 2008, any unplated metal jewelry component may not exceed a lead level of 1.5% (15,000 ppm).
- As of September 1, 2009, any electroplated metal jewelry component may not exceed a lead level of 6% (60,000 ppm).
This legislation also addresses the limit placed on the use of crystal decorative components like those manufactured by Swarovski. These limits are addressed in the initial FAQ section of the Lead in Jewelry info available through the State of California.
States other than California
As mentioned in the Introduction, other states have either passed or are currently considering legislation limiting lead content in jewelry, most notably in jewelry marketed to children. Most of these states appear to be using the limit of 600 ppm lead, adopted by the State of California. The most notable exception to this trend is Vermont, where legislation has been introduced, though not passed, that would limit lead to less than 10 ppm. The states for which we can offer current information include:
(If you are unfamiliar with the measurement system used in the expression of lead content please see Measuring Metal Content.)