Warning Out on Bracelets with Cadmium-Containing Components
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19 June 2024, Quezon City. The environmental and health watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has again reminded the public to be careful when buying and using bracelets that may contain components with excessive levels of cadmium, a highly toxic carcinogenic chemical.
The group issued the reminder after monitoring a recent product safety alert by the Government of Germany against a bracelet that originated from China, which poses chemical risk due to its high cadmium content.
According to Alert No. A12/01549/24 published at the Safety Gate, the European Union’s rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products, a Chinese-style bracelet with large black beads with golden characters and a golden ornament (a Pi Yao, a mythical animal that attracts good luck and fortune) contains excessive amount of cadmium.
“The product has an excessive concentration of cadmium (measured value: 88 % by weight),” the alert said, warning “cadmium is harmful to human health because it accumulates in the body, can damage the kidneys and bones and it may cause cancer."
Since the product does not comply with EU's REACH Regulation, concerned economic operators recalled the product from end users and the online product listing was further taken down.
Taking its cue from what happened in Germany, the EcoWaste Coalition purchased similar bead bracelets from stores selling beads and accessories in Quiapo, Manila and had them screened for cadmium using a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer. The bracelets were obtained for P30 to P120 each.
Out of six bead bracelets, five were found to contain cadmium at levels exceeding 10 percent, or more than 100,000 parts per million (ppm). Cadmium was detected either in the golden Pi Yao adornment or the golden beads, which are both metal-based.
The cadmium detected in one bead bracelet was below 100 ppm, indicating that jewelry items can be safely made without the excessive use of cadmium.
In Europe, cadmium in jewelry is restricted to 0.01 % (or 100 ppm) by weight of the metal in metal beads and other metal components for jewelry making, metal parts of jewelry and imitation jewelry articles and hair accessories as per EU Regulation 494/2011.
Cadmium, a heavy metal with symbol Cd and atomic number 48, is classified as “carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cadmium is, according to the US National Cancer Institute, “primarily associated with human lung, prostate, and kidney cancers, and recently pancreatic cancer,” as well as with “cancers of the breast and urinary bladder.”
Cadmium is included in the World Health Organization’s list of 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern. To protect human health, WHO has recommended, among other things, “the elimination of use of cadmium in products such as toys, jewelry and plastics.”
Cadmium is also included in the Philippine Priority Chemicals List. However, cadmium in products such as jewelry is not covered by the Chemical Control Order (CCO) issued in 2021 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB). Nonetheless, “the use of products not containing cadmium is encouraged to prevent and minimize the release of cadmium to the environment,” the CCO stated.
The EcoWaste Coalition supports the use of non-toxic substitutes to cadmium in jewelry making to protect the health of the people, including the workers. It also supports the people’s right to know about the chemicals that constitute a product.
"Transparency in the chemicals that make up a product, as well as the hazards they pose to health and the environment, should be made mandatory in line with the consumers' right to know," the toxics watchdog group asserted.
Reference:
https://www.who.int/teams/
https://progressreport.cancer.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-
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