The "Devil" Lurks in Wrong Testing Methods

    LOS ANGELES, CA, June 04, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The jewelry we purchase for ourselves and our children should be safe from lead and cadmium and SB647, an amendment to the Metal Containing Jewelry Law, addresses the importance of reducing allowable levels to protect our health and the health of our children.

However, if SB647 passes as it stands, we will all wake up to a disaster, shocked that SB647 can simply not keep our children safe from toxic Lead and Cadmium, but instead, can allow jewelry filled with toxic lead and cadmium to be sold due to inaccurate testing.

The "devil" is in the details and in SB647, the "devil" lurks in the testing methods and if not removed from SB647, would render this bill unable to execute the new standards.

While it appears that legislators and environmentalists are interested in the "sentiment" of the bill, it is concerning that they hardly know or are interested in knowing about how this bill will be executed, administered or interpreted.

Currently, SB647 includes EPA test methods developed to test for Lead and Cadmium in sediments, sludges, and soils, NOT Jewelry, not to mention the methods are designed for sample preparation only and not designed to provide conclusive final results, (i.e. if the jewelry contains under 100ppm lead or not). SB647 includes Section 25214.4 (a) and Section 25214.4.1, which allows untrained technicians, cross contamination, wrong equipment and solvents, errors, inconsistencies and false positive and false negative results to occur, which could cause unsafe products to be sold in California. When companies use these testing methods, jewelry could end up on shelves that says "lead free" or "cadmium free" without the actual assurance of that being true.

On the other hand, this bill Section 25214.4 (b) includes test methods approved by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) that were designed to test for jewelry and can be relied on to accurately test for jewelry. If the goal is to ensure that products being sold to California are safe, then these methods should be the only ones included in SB647. This simple change could be the difference between safe and unsafe products being sold in California.

It is vitally important to protect children, especially those in low income communities who do not have a voice and to care not just about the "sentiment" but the implementation of this regulation and to demand accurate testing, so that safe products can be sold.

Citizens for Safe Consumer Products is an organization founded to ensure that every consumer product is safe.

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