Screening Children's Jewelry for Lead & Cadmium with XRF
It's no secret that lead and cadmium in children's jewelry have become a major issue for consumers, legislators, the media, and you, the manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers offering fashion jewelry to the public. Interested in precious metals & jewelry analysis? We can provide the answer.
With concerns over the millions of pieces of children's metal jewelry recalled for hazardous levels of lead over the past few years as well as other recalled child-accessible products, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), also known as H.R. 4040, was signed into law. What are the highlights of this law and what do they mean to you?
Watch CPSC video
- Decreased permissible levels of lead in paint
- Regulated levels of lead in all other materials such as children's jewelry
- Increased civil penalties
- Critical deadlines for lower lead content first on February 10, 2009, and again most recently on August 14, 2009
Handheld and Mobile XRF – They're the Charm
Using Thermo Scientific Niton x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers, now available with GOLDD™ technology, you can confidently screen children's jewelry for lead and other toxic metals. Quickly. Accurately. Precisely.
Like toy screening, an effective program to screen jewelry for toxic metals using handheld or field-mobile XRF analysis greatly reduces the chances that lead containing materials will enter the manufacturing process, or accidentally end up on store shelves. This starts with a process that includes rapid screening of metals, plastic, wood, fabrics, and paints used in jewelry production:
- At the receiving dock
- In the warehouse
- During product assembly
- Even at vendor sites, including testing through packaging to save time
You, and all stakeholders can implement a standardized inspection protocol for incoming jewelry and jewelry component shipments to verify compliance, while simultaneously requiring supply chain documentation based on empirical testing. The further back in the supply chain that the metal and lead testing for children's jewelry takes place, the easier it is to prevent lead from entering the hands of a child.
Thermo Scientific Niton XRF Analyzers – The Ideal Lead & Cadmium Screening Tools
Thermo Scientific Niton XRF analyzers, from the handheld Niton® XL2 Series to the handheld Niton XL3t Series to the Niton FXL Series field x-ray lab, are the ideal tools to screen children's jewelry for lead and the seven other regulated elements in products designed for children under the age of 12 (barium, antimony, selenium, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, hexavalent chromium).
What's more, they are the only handheld XRF analyzers that are capable of differentiating between lead on the surface of jewelry and lead that exists in all other substrates (there are limitations associated with plated material). Your jewelry testing benefits in a variety of ways from these remarkable tools:
- Fast – Screening jewelry for lead takes seconds to minutes, not days. Decision to ship lead-free jewelry can happen immediately
- Flexible – Screen fashion jewelry and other child-accessible products for compliance with CPSIA, EN-71 and California's Proposition 65
- Easy to use – TestAll™ technology automatically selects the correct analytical mode for non-technical users
- Powerful – Integrated CCD camera and spot size as small as 1 mm help you accurately isolate small samples & visually document your measurements
- Non-destructive – The analyzed jewelry product is not defaced or affected in any way
- Portable – You can test for lead in-situ on the children's metal jewelry item, in the factory, product integrity lab, on the dock, or in the warehouse...or can easily be used for vendor audits
Get a Bead on Lead with Thermo Scientific Niton XRF Analyzers
Discover why major toy, jewelry, and consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, Internet shopping sites, as well as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the European Union's Product Safety Enforcement Forum (PROSAFE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs & Border Protection, and Health Canada have all chosen and use the handheld Thermo Scientific Niton XRF analyzer.
Contact us today for a demonstration and discover how these versatile instruments can easily help you test jewelry for lead and meet the requirements of the CPSIA and keep our children safe!
US Consumer Product Safety Commission list of recalls for lead exposure hazard to date.
