State health council bans trinkets containing lead
For decades, they have been a talisman of childhood: gaudy necklaces, whimsical rings, and other trinkets stuffed into gift bags at birthday parties and dispensed from battered machines outside the dime store.
But there's potential danger lurking in such trinkets: lead, which can cause long-term medical problems if ingested.
Massachusetts health regulators decided yesterday to address the problem, voting unanimously to ban the sale of children's jewelry containing lead.
"Swallowing these jewelry items has caused serious injury and death," said Suzanne Condon, director of the state's Bureau of Environmental Health.
The ban will not go into effect until June, but Condon had this recommendation yesterday for parents worried about toy jewelry already in their homes: "Most of this stuff is relatively inexpensive," she said, "so we have been saying, if you're concerned about it, throw it out."
The Massachusetts regulation on children's jewelry is believed to be the most stringent in the nation, setting the lowest acceptable level of lead. It stipulates that if a piece of toy jewelry was smashed into 1 million equal pieces, no more than 600 could contain lead.
The state's Public Health Council said it was spurred to action in part because federal regulators have yet to adopt tough rules on toy jewelry. The US House and Senate have passed separate laws governing lead in toys and other objects, but have not reached agreement on a final regulation.
An investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health last year showed that some children's jewelry on store shelves was laden with lead, in some cases as much as 1,800 times higher than is considered safe.
Many of the lead-containing trinkets found by investigators were manufactured in China, and the move to prohibit dangerous toy jewelry reflects broader global concerns about unsafe toys, food, and medicines imported from China.
The new state regulation covers lead-containing jewelry sold in stores, through the Internet, and catalogs. The sellers of such products will be required to keep on hand detailed information about the contents of the jewelry and to share it with state inspectors. Violators of the ban could face fines from $100 to $5,000.
William C. Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said his trade group has "significant concerns with regard to the regulations and the documentation requirement, particularly as it pertains to small businesses."
"While we want to be in full compliance, we're going to be reliant upon the manufacturer to provide that documentation," Rennie said.
Some stores may find the regulation so onerous, he said, that they will stop selling the jewelry.
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"I certainly wouldn't want any of it to get in the wrong hands," Jones said.
Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com. 