Amazon, TikTok Shop selling jewelry made of toxic metal that looks like silver but can cause cancer

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 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...