Decades ago Dr. Clark warned people not to wear any jewelry and to limit handling metal coins.

She wrote: “Don’t wear gold rings or any metal jewelry touching your skin”.

Dr. Clark has always been ached of her time but who would believe that mainstream retailers would pull jewelry off the shelves, albeit cheaply made children’s jewelry.

Think about this: If we did not know about the cadmium polluted children jewelry, do you think they will tell us about what metals are in jewelry for the rest of us?

US retailers Walmart, Claire and others are busy pulling toxic children’s jewelry from their shelves. Reason: cancer causing cadmium. Prohibited from using toxic lead in children’s jewelry, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants.

Cadmium causes cancer

Cadmium is a highly toxic metal used in batteries, metal coatings and plastics. Cadmium has been shown to cause lung cancer, according to the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Made in China

China is presently investigating claims that children’s jewelry exported to the United States contained a highly toxic cadmium, state media reported Thursday.

The reputation of China’s poorly regulated and corruption-plagued manufacturing industry has been deeply tarnished in recent years by safety scandals involving dangerous foods, toys and other products.

Last month, for example, a Chinese dairy shut down during the 2008 tainted milk scandal was closed once again after tests found products containing melamine, the same toxic chemical discovered 18 months earlier.

Legal loophole

Present US legal restrictions on cadmium are less strict than those for lead and apply only to painted toys, not jewelry.

Recently toxic jewelry testing was conducted by chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio. The results? Overall, 12 of the 103 items each contained at least 10 percent cadmium. Two others contained lower amounts, while the other 89 were clean.

The acid test

In order to determine how much cadmium a child could be exposed to, items were bathed in a solution that mimics stomach acid to see how much of the poison would leach out after being swallowed. Ten of the items with the highest cadmium content were then run through the stomach acid test. “Clearly it seems like for a metal as toxic as cadmium, somebody ought to be watching out to make sure there aren’t high levels in items that could end up in the hands of kids,” said Weidenhamer.

Weidenhamer’s test results include:

Three flip flop bracelet charms sold at Walmart contained between 84 and 86 percent cadmium. The charms were the big offender on the stomach acid test. One leached more cadmium in 24 hours than World Health Organization guidelines deem a safe exposure over 60 weeks for a 33-pound child.

Four charms from two “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” bracelets sold at a Dollar N More store in Rochester, N.Y., racked up a whopping 82 – 91 percent cadmium. The Rudolph charms also fared poorly on the stomach acid test.

Two charms on a “Best Friends” bracelet bought at Claire’s, a jewelry chain with nearly 3,000 stores in North America and Europe, measured 89 and 91 percent cadmium. The charms also leached alarming amounts of deadly cadmium in the simulated stomach acid test. Informed of the results, Claire’s issued a statement pointing out that children’s jewelry is not required to pass a cadmium leaching test.

How much is too much

“It comes down to the following,” says Michael R. Harbut, a doctor who has treated adult victims of cadmium poisoning and is director of the environmental cancer program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.: “Cadmium causes cancer. How much cadmium do you want your child eating?” In my view, the answer should be none.”

Help your body detox!

References

1.P IMPACT: Toxic metal in kids’ jewelry from China. news.aol.com/article/ap-impact-toxic-metal-in-kids
2.Another Chain pulls Kids’ Toxic Jewelry. http://www.cnbc.com/id/34828187

In our last newsletter we explained that major retailers in US are pulling children jewelry off the shelves. Now they are pulling adult jewelry.
Concern about the heavy metal cadmium in jewelry grew Tuesday Feb. 2, 2010, as a California environmental group said new testing of adult necklaces and bracelets bought at three leading retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Aeropostale, detected high levels of the toxic material, as much as 75 percent by weight.

Again we want to remind everyone that Dr. Clark pointed this out to the public decades ago! Her teachings are the true jewels that thousands have put to good use.

Valentines Hearts

Chromium is significant because it helps maintain blood-sugar levels, which reduces sugar cravings. It also helps stops fat from being stored. This is where the “amazing diet pill” idea comes in.

People who eat foods high in simple sugars, such as in chocolate valentines hearts, are more likely to have a chromium deficiency due to increased loss of chromium in urine. Ninety percent of Americans don’t get enough chromium.

This may be due to the fact that foods high in sugar displace healthy foods high in chromium.

When the major newspapers of the world warn of supplement use, courtesy of patent medicine, we know the truth: Chromium is essential and it’s good for you.

PS: Cinnamon also helps regulate blood sugar levels. It can decrease sugar cravings. You can also use 3 to 4 cloves in your tea.