It’s not the heavy metal you want to rock.
A new investigation by the Sunday Times found that several pieces of “silver” jewelry sold on Amazon and TikTok Shop contained large quantities of cadmium, a silvery-white toxic metal known to cause cancer.
Often used in rechargeable batteries and metal coatings, certain kinds of exposure to it can affect the liver, kidneys, bones and lungs, posing occupational hazards to industrial workers.
To put the problem in perspective, one expert warned that cadmium is worse than mercury in terms of long-term toxicity.
The Times did not include a comprehensive list of the problematic products, though they did include a screenshot of a product titled “Women’s 925 Sterling Silver Simple Open Adjustable Rings” from a seller named Littleduckling for £2.99.
Several pieces they had independently tested exceeded the legal limit for cadmium in the UK, which is 0.01% in any piece of jewelry.
One ring bought on Amazon was just over 92% cadmium, containing more than 9,000 times the maximum UK allowance, while a charm bracelet from the TikTok seller Perform Pearls contained almost 3,300 times the UK limit.
The US has no comprehensive nationwide law regarding cadmium limits in adult jewelry, but many states have their own heavy metals regulations, usually for children’s jewelry.
California leads the way with the most strictly controlled limits, prohibiting the manufacture or sale of jewelry containing more than 300 ppm (parts per million), or 0.03% of cadmium by weight.
With the introduction of the Cadmium-Safe Kids Act, Illinois has banned children’s jewelry that contains more than 75 ppm of cadmium in paint, surface coatings or any material that comes in contact with skin.
With some of the lowest levels, Washington limits cadmium in children’s products to 40 ppm and requires extensive reporting to the Department of Ecology for high-concern chemicals.
Cadmium is generally considered safe to touch, and the CDC notes that only about 0.5% of it is absorbed by the skin. But additional exposure can occur when someone touches the metal, then touches their mouth or food.
One of the main outcomes of cadmium poisoning is kidney cancer, although conditions like osteoporosis, liver damage, lung cancer and other respiratory issues.
Cadmium can also easily enter soil, water and air from burning coal and household wastes, and while low levels exist in foods like shellfish, exposure often comes from cigarette smoke, living near industrial facilities or breathing contaminated workplace air.
Experts warn it’s one of the strongest toxic metals and any level of exposure should be concerning.
“You should minimize any cadmium exposure,” Christer Hogstrand, a professor of molecular ecotoxicology at King’s College London, told the Sunday Times. “Mercury is really bad, cadmium is worse.”
While rings and bracelets often have direct skin contact, earrings containing cadmium are particularly dangerous if placed in damaged or pierced skin.
In 2018, lab testing by the Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland-based nonprofit, found that jewelry sold at Ross and Nordstrom Rack was at least 40% cadmium, with most more than 90%.
This year, the UK’s Office for Product Safety and Standards intercepted at the border and destroyed Amazon jewelry that contained excessive, dangerous levels of cadmium.