The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has now ruled that 12 million “Shrek” glasses pulled by McDonald’s last spring because of cadmium levels exceeding federal limits are now okay.  This change didn’t happen because the glasses were improperly tested, but rather because the allowable limits for cadmium have been tripled.

Further, the CPSC has said they will not insist on mandatory limits.  Instead, they are making recommendations they hope will be adopted by a private-sector group, which includes representatives of the jewelry industry and consumer advocates.  The federal agency has said they were obligated to let a legitimate voluntary standards process unfold.

In other words, the private sector is being asked to do the right thing and police itself.  The CPSC has said that it would impose mandatory limits if the industry did not self-regulate, but it would seem that in light of the recent financial meltdown and the BP oil spill that private industry shouldn’t be readily trusted to sacrifice profit in the name of public safety.  Too often, by the time we become aware that the self-regulation has failed, we already have a full-blown disaster on our hands.

Yet even the new voluntary guidelines are concerning.  The new level of 0.1 micrograms/kilogram of body weight/day is in line with recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the threshold below which no health effects are expected—provided the exposure lasts less than one year.  Back in January, the CPSC announced the first ever recall of jewelry when excessive cadmium was found in Chinese made and Disney branded children’s items being sold through Wal-Mart.  Under the new less stringent guidelines, many of these metal trinkets will remain on the market.  And most kids will find the bling appealing for more than a year of their lives.

Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal that accumulates in the body for years.  At even very low doses, the toxin causes kidney damage and brittle bones.  It can be ingested as well as inhaled.  Cadmium in children’s jewelry is particularly insidious because of the tendency of kids to put the trinkets in their mouths where small amounts of the metal may be swallowed.  It has recently become a problem entirely because a federal ban on lead in children’s jewelry posed a problem for Chinese manufacturers, who inexplicably then switched to the even more toxic cadmium as a substitute.

Jewelers like cadmium because it has heft as well as being malleable, shiny, cheap, and can be worked at low heat levels.  But there’s nothing about jewelry making that requires cadmium, and what can’t be emphasized enough… it is highly toxic.  There’s simply no good reason to allow more than naturally occurring traces of it to be in jewelry (or glassware for that matter).  It should be subject to the same sorts of regulations and restrictions as lead.

We wouldn’t allow Gatorade to sweeten their drinks with antifreeze, even in small amounts.  Why would we take a chance by allowing cadmium to be added to things we give our kids?  The CPSC needs to rethink this again.  They exist to protect the safety of consumers, not the profits of industry.