Getting the lead out of kids' jewelry

In February 2006, a 4-year-old child changed the jewelry business.

The little boy, brought to a Minneapolis hospital emergency room because of vomiting and a stomachache, got steadily worse. After four days, he died.

During an autopsy, a heart-shaped metal charm was found in the stomach of the boy, whose identity wasn't revealed. The piece of metal had the word Reebok printed on it.

The charm had come with a pair of children's sneakers. A test revealed it to be 99.1% lead.

Other children have become sick from swallowing jewelry containing lead, and many such products have been recalled. But this death helped ensure the passage of laws in several states restricting lead content in children's jewelry.

And as of March 1, lead content in jewelry meant for adults also will be regulated in California.

For the jewelry industry, it has been a major shift.

"Before the time of Cleopatra, men and women wore jewelry, ornaments made of metal with lead content," said Michael Gale, executive director of the Fashion Jewelry Trade Assn.

Gale said metal containing lead has many advantages for jewelry makers, including pliability, low melting point and low cost.

Since September, children's jewelry sold or manufactured in California can't have lead content of more than 600 parts per million. Laws on the books in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan contain similar restrictions.

But the reach goes far beyond these states, becoming a de facto national standard.

"We're dealing with chains of stores that have nationwide distribution," Gale said. "If you have a J.C. Penney's warehouse in Texas, you can't separate out items to ship only to California and some other states."

But early compliance has been questionable, to say the least.

In December, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control announced that of 375 children's jewelry items bought by investigators after the law took effect, more than a third exceeded the allowed lead content -- sometimes by a large amount.

A child's necklace bought from a vending machine at a Church's Chicken restaurant in Oakland had 368,000 parts per million of lead, more than 600 times the legal limit.

Other errant items included a beaded safety pin bought at a GapKids store in Huntington Beach, a heart necklace from Macy's in Glendale and a "pirate bracelet" from a shop at Universal Studios.

None of the stores or suppliers was fined.