Hi there, I just read the new articl about Lead and Cadmium containing jewelry law changing, wondering how it pertained to lead and or cadmium in enamel on jewelry pieces. In passing the writer says that ‘glass is exempt’, does that exemption include vitreous enamel pieces? Does anyone have up to date info on what the standards are for enamel jewelry?
this could be a matter of splitting hairs but lead glass is no longer permissable for glassware… Swaroski crystal removed lead content a decade ago… the risk of heavy metal toxicity from normal jewerly wear and making it in a ventilated home studio is virtually non existent, unless abused… but if safer alternatives are available, why bother with lead and cadmium… In California, they are not allowed.
Lead In Jewelry | Department of Toxic Substances Control
Department of Toxic Substances Control (.gov)
https://dtsc.ca.gov › … › Toxics in Products
(https://dtsc.ca.gov/toxics-in-products/lead-in-jewelry/)
I’ve held off from responding to this post because I found this article to be very confusing. I wanted to see if others might know more than me regarding this issue and who the article is directed towards.
Is the article directed towards smaller, individual jewelry studios (most Orchid members) or huge manufacturers and importers?
The article makes it sound like at some point someone might be required to test their jewelry for lead and cadmium, but it doesn’t say when that will happen or who is requiring the testing.
The article comes from MJSA, (Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America).
Like I said, I came away with more questions, than answers.
As far as enameling goes, most enamelists that I know don’t use enamels that contain lead anymore. I haven’t heard that cadmium is common in enamels, but I’m not an enamelist. Does anyone know if cadmium is common in contemporary enamel?
I did Google lead and cadmium in jewelry to see what would come up. All of the investigations that I saw involved low cost, costume jewelry sold in department stores in California.
To sum it up, I’m sorry, but I don’t know the answer to your question about enamel containing heavy metals and when or if testing will be required for you.
Thanks for asking and bringing it up!!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for weighing in. I do think the article is for manufacturers, and importers and it is primarily about the flood of costume kid jewelry made with pot metal and painted with lead containing paints. In the article it says glass is exempt. I am not sure if it pertains to us small volume makers.
A lot of folks that don’t do enamel, think that because unleaded enamels are sold in the USA, they are the only enamels used. One other member made a similar comment. Most of the Masters I am familiar with, including those in California, use still leaded enamel from Japan or the EU. The unleaded enamels are wonderful for blues and greens and really miserable to use for other colors. Lead and cadmium are both still in ceramic glazes, and some oil paints (though cadmium is being discontinued by some paint manufacturers due to high demand/cost generated by battery industries.)
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A lot of folks that don’t do enamel, think that because unleaded enamels are sold in the USA, they are the enamels most commonly used. Other members made similar comments. Most of the Masters I am familiar with, including those in California, use still leaded enamel from Japan or the EU. Unleaded enamels are wonderful for blues and greens but really miserable to use for other transparent colors. Lead and cadmium are both still available even in California, in ceramic glazes, glass frits, and some oil paints. (though cadmium is being discontinued by some paint manufacturers due to high demand/cost generated by battery industries.) The comment “if safer alternatives are available why use leaded enamels?” is so true, but unfortuantley until we can get transparent reds, purples and yellows that are not a nightmare to use, leaded enamel will still be the go to for a lot of enamelists.
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too bad alternatives are not as good… virbrant reds, orange and yellows so far can’t be matched other than with cadmium which is even more toxic than lead… that being said, toxic exposure for wearing and making jewelry is unheard of… if there is a documented poisoning, due to normal use of jewelry, I can’t find one… abuse of lead and cadmium, yes… mostly mistakes, some egregious.
What is necessary is for the materials sciences industry to develope alternatives that are nontoxic, which won’t happen either unless the alternatives are cheaper or they forced to do so by complete bans on lead and other toxic heavy metals.
Uranium glass was once banned during the cold war but is now legal… deplete uranium has neglible radioactivity.
ASTM stand for American Society for testing and Materials. The ASTM is an organization of manufacturers and trade groups that have cooperatively set standards for everything…most all of the violations of ASTM standards have come from Chinese imports where quality control and manufacturing processes are lax, environmental controls ignored or non existent… They cannot legally use “ASTM” in the names of their products.