An advisory posted May 17 on the Health Canada website reads "Health Canada is advising consumers that high levels of lead continue to be found in a wide variety of children’s jewellery products sold in Canada."
There have been a number of recalls in the last few weeks and Health Canada warns consumers to be cautious.
The advisory warns: "Children can ingest harmful amounts of lead when they chew, suck or swallow jewellery items containing lead, as lead is very toxic to children even at low exposure levels. Simply wearing a jewellery item with lead does not present a serious risk to health because there is minimal lead absorption through the skin."
Health Canada advises consumers to throw out this type of jewellery.
Consumers have more than lead to worry about. A known carcinogen is being found in the jewellery, replacing lead. Health Canada is also concerned that cadmium (which is a carcinogen), may be increasingly substituted for lead in inexpensive children’s jewellery."
For more information, visit the Health Canada website or phone 1-866-225-0709.