Happy Stories From our customers

Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal. It is used in nickel-cadmium batteries, pigments, metal plating/coatings and stabilizers in plastics. In children’s jewelry, cadmium is used to make the jewelry coating shiny in addition to adding weight and mass. However, cadmium is also a toxic heavy metal and a suspected carcinogen. It can also cause severe damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys and nervous system if swallowed or inhaled.

Illinois is the second state to ban the use of cadmium in children’s jewelry-making:

The law, which goes into effect July 1, limits the toxic metal to 75 parts per million (ppm) in any surface coating or accessible substrate of jewelry. It requires companies to measure the amount of cadmium that can “migrate” or leach out of a sample of jewelry over a two-hour period, when the sample is immersed in a solution that simulates digestive acid.

A similar cadmium ban was passed in January in Minnesota. However, the two laws differ in that Illinois specifies that children are “12 and under,” while Minnesota defines children as under six.

Three other states—California, Maryland, and Connecticut—have also passed laws banning cadmium in children’s jewelry, but those laws will not take effect until 2012, in the case of California and Maryland. Connecticut’s law takes effect in 2014.

Industry groups, including the MJSA, recently came together with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to develop a standard for children’s jewelry.

That group produced a draft Safety Standard with recommendations on cadmium limits. If  adopted by the CPSC, the standard would likely supersede state cadmium laws and ultimately create a national standard.

Source: JCK

The Kimberly Process is designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources which are free of conflict funded by diamond production. The certification scheme aims at preventing “blood diamonds” from entering the mainstream rough diamond market and assure consumers that they were not indirectly financing war and human rights abuses. This week, it was brought into question by Human Rights Watch:

Human Rights Watch called on governments, companies and consumers to refuse to buy Zimbabwe diamonds until all members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme agree the country is protecting people’s rights.

The Kimberley Process, which was created in 2003 to prevent so-called “blood diamonds” from financing conflict, said on June 23 that exports from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields could resume. The decision was broadly supported by African countries, while the U.S. and Canada objected.

“If diamonds from Marange are KP certified we’d be arguing for consumers not to buy those diamonds from sellers,” Tiseke Kasambala of Human Rights Watch said by phone from Johannesburg today. “The allowing of exports while there are ongoing abuses is a terrible decision.”

In 2009, restrictions were placed on the export of gems from the Marange field, which is near Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique, after an investigation found human-rights violations and smuggling at the site. In 2008, more than 200 people were killed when Zimbabwean security forces took over the concessions, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Kimberley Process President Mathieu Yamba said June 23 that Zimbabwe was now complying with the organization’s requirements and had guaranteed cooperation with civil society representatives and special monitoring of its exports. Yamba did not answer his phone when called for comment by Bloomberg today.

“Consensus cannot mean that everyone has to say ‘yes’,” he said June 23 in response to Canada’s objection.

Source: Bloomberg News

 

Read more about our eco-friendly jewelry.

We’ve talked about the many wonders of palladium in the past. It’s durable, light-weight, with a remarkable luster. Palladium is considered a sister-metal to platinum. though palladium is a relative newcomer in the jewelry market. Several celebrities have joined up with Palladium Alliance International to co-create a campaign extolling its virtues.

Toledo, Ohio–Palladium Alliance International (PAI) is partnering up with celebrities Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osbourne and Rose McGowan for a new campaign to promote the metal’s use in fine jewelry.

“The campaign, which will launch nationally in September, is a play on the attributes of palladium,” said Ellen Fruchtman, president of Fruchtman Marketing, which developed and is launching the campaign for PAI.

Former Baywatch star and humanitarian Pamela Anderson, E! Fashion Police host Kelly Osbourne and Charmed TV actress Rose McGowan will be featured in a series of ads that will extol the virtues of palladium jewelry.

The campaign will appear in publications including Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Glamour, W, and Elle. The PAI campaign is the largest for palladium and highlights intrinsic qualities of the metal as those matching the desires of an active, busy consumer.

In addition to print, the campaign will include extensive digital and social media aspects.

“The campaign has a lot of legs and is very consumer and media friendly,” Fruchtman said. “The celebrities we have selected are recognizable, and the headline associated with the campaign will be attention-getting.”

One of the lightest precious metals, palladium has been used in jewelry since about 1939, and is naturally white, durable and pure.

Source: National Jeweler

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