star earringsI hate when it turns out my mother was right about something all along! Especially when I really, really thought she didn't know what she was talking about. (And let her know as much.)
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For example: Apparently my mother actually did know what she was talking about when she said "cheap" jewelry would make me sick. Like most little girls, I wanted to wear just about anything that glittered, but my mom would only let me get 14 karat gold or sterling silver. Junky earrings would give me ear infections, she said, crappy rings would turn my fingers green. Dollar store necklaces and bracelets would most likely give me cancer.
I rolled my eyes and swore that if I ever had a daughter, I would buy all the $2 pairs of earrings shaped like monkeys or music notes or rainbows her heart desired. Which I did. Because the truth is? Spending an hour combing through all the incredibly affordable junk at Claire's with your little girl is FUN. It just is.
Anyway, guess what a non-profit organization found out when they ran tests on a whole ton of under $10 jewelry from places like Claire's and H&M and Hot Topic?
Cheap jewelry can make you sick!
Over half the jewelry tested had high levels of toxic chemicals like lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, brominated flame retardants, chlorine, mercury and arsenic. Twenty-seven of the pieces had levels exceeding the limit for children's projects. (Not all of the jewelry was specifically targeted "for kids," but in my experience, that's not always obvious.)
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So, great news, right? Honestly I don't know if I can bring myself to toss all the junk jewelry in the house away -- toxins are everywhere anyway (this is me waving a white flag). Still, this will change the way I shop from now on.
Does this report about kids' jewelry scare you?
Image via Debs/Flickr
Written by Jacqueline Burt on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
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