Cadmium in Children's Jewelry

I've been digging into Cadmium and whether it's found in products intended for use by children. I'm particularly interested in children's products because kids are more vulnerable to chemical toxicities than are adults.

Anyway, Cadmium has reportedly been found in cheap jewelry sold by retailers like Claire's, Wal-Mart, and Target. Here's a link to a CBS story re Claire's, Wal-Mart, and Cadmium jewelry. Here's a link to TheSmartMama.com's investigation re Target.

Rather than characterizing what I've found about the nasty characteristics of Cadmium, here are a few links: Scorecard's summary; National Toxicology Program substance profile; International Agency for Research on Cancer.

And, by the way, human exposure can be via the dermal route. See e.g., Godt, et al., “The toxicity of cadmium and resulting hazards for human health”,Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 2006, 1:22.

Rule on Lead Safety

The New York Times reported yesterday that the EPA is now on track to implement a regulation requiring the construction industry to help prevent lead poisoning in children. Congress reportedly passed the legislation in 1992, but it took a lawsuit by environmental and public interest groups to pressure EPA to issue the rule. Click here to read the article.

FDA Crackdown on Food Labels

A couple of weeks ago, ABC News published the above-entitled story. FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg sent letters to 17 food manufacturers concerning their deceptive food labeling. Widely recognized manufacturers such as Dreyers Grand Ice Cream, Inc., Beech-nut, and Nestle were among recipients of Dr. Hambur's letters. Click here to read the story. Click here to see the list of companies and products.

Cell Phone Radiation

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published an article related to cell phone radiation, so you can read it by clicking here.

New Jersey Court Rules That Lawsuit Related To Baby Personal Care Products May Proceed

A federal judge in New Jersey recently upheld some consumer claims related to commonly recognized personal care products that are intended for use on infants -- namely, Johnson's Baby Shampoo and Target's Equate Tearless Baby Wash. One or both products allegedly contain methylene chloride, a substance banned by the FDA. Click here for information about methylene chloride. Click here to read the story published by Law.com.

Safe Cosmetics Ingredients -- iPhone App

Today I received daily highlights from Cosmeticsdesign.com and learned that a new iPhone application is available for users who care to monitor the ingredients comprising the personal care products they purchase. The developer claims that the app is touted as having a searchable database of 5000 ingredients. This is the link to Cosmetifique for iPhon and iPod Touch.

Organic Or Not? Silk report

So, as a proponent of transparency on consumer product packaging, I found an article published by the Cornucopia Institute this month interesting. The Institute reported that an investigation by the USDA's National Organic Program determined that Target corporation wrongly used an image of an organic product when promoting a conventional non-organic product to consumers. Click here to read Cornucopia's article. Minnesota Public Radio also published an article on this subject, here.

Doubt Is Their Product, Particularly those Targeted Toward Children

Consistent, or approximately so, with Michaels' "Doubt is Their Product," what does a company do when hurried to create doubt about safety of a baby/infant personal care product?  When faced with a public interest report about 1,4-dioxane in baby personal care products (click here) a company might ask people in China (click here) to say that ingredient isn't in whatever was manufactured there.

Canada Bans/Restricts Additional Personal Care Product Ingredients

Canada recently banned or restricted the use of 4 ingredients in cosmetics. Anyone interested can read the article by clicking here. Or, check the following against the labels on your own personal care products: 2-MEA (2-methoxyethanol acetate); DEGME - 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethanol; 2-methoxypropanol (reportedly not added, but may be an impurity); and Pigment Red 3.

Penguin House

I think this video is interesting about using light to make a small space seem larger. Click here.