Charity recalling bracelets over lead
Local anticancer group blames Chinese supplier
A local cancer charity that has raised more than $1 million for Massachusetts General Hospital by selling memorial bracelets recalled about 200,000 of the beaded accessories yesterday after receiving a report that a 9-month-old boy became ill after ingesting lead when he put one in his mouth.
The Friends of Mel Foundation said tests conducted on several bracelets last week confirmed they contained high levels of lead. A spokeswoman blamed a supplier based in China that had promised in writing none of the materials it provided contained the toxic element.
"The organization feels like they were lied to and were given bad product," said spokeswoman Jackie Herskovitz. "It's such a shame."
The Friends of Mel bracelets are sold on the foundation's website and at about 100 small retail outlets, such as hair salons and bou tiques, in Massachusetts and Florida. The merchants give all of the money from the bracelet sales to the foundation.
Doris Lombardi, 54, of Winchester said she bought three bracelets for herself and two of her daughters. Lombardi, like several other women contacted who wear the bracelets, said that she hoped the recall didn't diminish the foundation's work.
"I'm sad for the cause, because I thought it was a great fund-raiser," she said.
OTHER RECALLS Read Globe coverage of other recalls at boston.com/business.
It was a poignant local example in the series of massive recalls that have raised concern about the safety of products made in China.
Last year, Canton sneaker maker Reebok International Ltd. recalled about 300,000 charm bracelets made in China and offered as gifts with the purchase of some children's footwear after a bracelet was linked to the lead-poisoning death of a 4-year-old in Minnesota.
Mattel ordered three high-profile recalls this summer involving more than 21 million Chinese-made toys, including Barbie doll accessories and toy cars, because of concerns about lead paint.
The California Department of Public Health last week recalled canvas lunchboxes it had distributed to encourage healthy eating. The boxes contained elevated levels of lead. Also, a congressional hearing has been tackling the topic, "Protecting Children from Lead - Tainted Imports."
And in Massachusetts last week, state health officials proposed a regulation banning the manufacture, transportation, and sale of toy jewelry containing lead.
"I can remember as a child putting my necklace in my mouth," Suzanne Condon, director of the state's Bureau of Environmental Health, said during a meeting of the state Public Health Council this month. "It's a rare thing if you don't see children with these things in their mouths."
A state investigation of toy jewelry on store shelves in Massachusetts found that among 79 pieces, more than 10 percent had high levels of lead. Some pieces contained 1,800 times the safe level.
Independent lab tests conducted on various bracelets by Massachusetts Materials Research Inc. showed that the multicolored beads in the Friends of Mel's bracelets contain no lead but that the small silver-toned rings connecting the beads have a high lead content. The beads are from China and Turkey and the small rings are from China, Herskovitz said.
Friends of Mel said the foundation was misled by a Chinese supplier, Ningbo Metal Manufacturing, which had promised in writing before signing a contract that the silver-toned rings did not contain lead. Ningbo could not be reached for comment late yesterday evening.
Nancy Sterling, another spokeswoman for Friends of Mel, said the foundation received a forwarded e-mail about the boy. The foundation has been unable to contact the family of the boy who had lead poisoning. Sterling said the e-mail noted the boy was "doing well," but she did not have information on whether he had been hospitalized.
The Friends of Mel Foundation was established in memory of Mel Simmons, a Rockland resident who worked as a flight attendant and died of breast cancer in 2005. Her flight attendant friends brought colorful bracelets from Turkey for Simmons while she was being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital. Simmons gave the bracelets out on the oncology floor to her doctors, nurses, and other patients.
"It became a badge of solidarity; everyone would wear them," Herskovitz said.
Other people began asking where they could get the bracelets, and Simmons's friends began to sell them and donate the money to cancer research. The bracelets caught on quickly. People often wear them in honor of someone they know who has cancer, Herskovitz said.
The foundation said the merchants who carry its bracelets were contacted and had taken the product off their shelves. Friends of Mel said it has also contacted both the US Consumer Product and Safety Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The cost of the recall to the foundation had not been determined last night.
"We extend our sincerest apologies to all of you who purchased our jewelry and we are working on a replacement involving a lead-free product," Pauline Alighieri, Friends of Mel's executive director, said in a statement posted last night on the organization's website.
"Since we are a small foundation this may take some time, but we want you to know that the safety of our supporters is our top concern," she wrote.
There's been a growing trend among charities toward giving premiums or selling products, such as the LiveStrong bracelets marketed by Lance Armstrong, in order to raise funds, according to Jim Post, a professor at Boston University's School of Management, and that could expose them to liability claims.
"Life was simpler when they were simply asking donators to donate out of a generous spirit. But as soon as you start exchanging something for a donation then you create an obligation on yourself that the thing you're exchanging is safe," he said.
Post said that the recall could create fund-raising problems for the foundation.
"They're going to take a hit. There's no question about that," he said. "But people respect organizations that try to do the right thing, and it sounds to me that the foundation is doing a positive job. Bad news can become good news when it's managed well and that's the opportunity for them."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com; Carolyn Y. Johnson at cjohnson@globe.com. 