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The Dangers of Cheap Jewelry

We used to think that cheap jewelry was only dangerous to good taste. But by now, many of us realize the potentially harmful components of jewelry, especially for children who love to put jewelry in their mouths.

Read on:

A non-profit organization called The Ecology Center ran tests on 99 pieces of jewelry (some of which was geared toward children but most of it was for adults) that were purchased from 14 different discount stores such from around the country, like Target, Claire’s, Glitter, Forever 21, Walmart, H&M, and Hot Topic. They checked each piece for dangerous things like lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, brominated flame retardants, chlorine, mercury and arsenic. And, surprise, surprise, lots of the jewelry was full of nasty stuff.

Over half of the jewelry, all of which cost less than ten dollars, had high levels of these hazardous chemicals, including 27 of the pieces which had lead levels which exceeded the 300 ppm limit for children’s products. Ninety percent of the pieces had chromium and nickel, which can cause allergic reactions, and ten percent of the pieces had cadmium, which is a toxic metal that’s been the subject of other jewelry and toy recalls. Some of the most toxic pieces they found included, “Claire’s Gold 8 Bracelet Set, Walmart’s Silver Star Bracelet, Target’s Silver Charm Necklace, and Forever 21’s Long Pearl Flower Necklace.” Take a quick scan of the jewelry you’ve got on to make sure none of these poisonous gems are making contact with your fragile epidermis as your read this.

Source: Jezebel

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