Piercing Metal Poisoning

That’s the message from the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, which is enforcing a new state law that regulates lead in jewelry, especially piercing jewelry.

“Body piercings may be particularly vulnerable to poisoning since lead can enter the bloodstream through the pierced areas, ” said Maureen Gorsen, director of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control in a written statement.

To get the point across, officials of the department were in Berkeley on Thursday at Zebra Tattoo and Body Piercing Shop to spread the word that jewelry must have less than 10 percent lead as of March 1 and less than 6 percent by Aug. 30, 2009.

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Those who violate the new law face fines of up to $2, 500 a day for each piece of jewelry in their possession.

Kerrie Naslund, 34, a senior piercer at Zebra for 16 years, said she is confident her shop is lead-free because it gets most of its jewelry from American manufacturers who provide certificates showing the metals in piercing jewelry they buy.

“Once this story breaks, I’m sure some of the piercing studios are going to reconsider the good deals they have gotten on jewelry from overseas, ” Naslund said. “They’re going to be a little nervous.”

Metals In Everyday Life

At Zebra, state employees showed off one of four new $40, 000 X-ray machines that can detect lead in jewelry, and staff at the shop gave a piercing demonstration.

While regulators like Michael Berriesford, the supervising investigator with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, said he knows of no adults who have been poisoned, the Environmental Protection Agency reports some tragedies in children.

A 4-year-old Minnesota child died in 2006 after swallowing a lead-laden jewelry charm, which prompted a recall of 300, 000 charm bracelets. And in 2004, 150 million pieces of toy jewelry sold in vending machines were recalled because of lead.

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Berriesford said state testing of children’s jewelry in California since Sept. 1 found 18 percent to 20 percent was contaminated with high levels of lead. Given those numbers, he’s assuming adult jewelry is being sold with lead in it, too.

“Body-piercing jewelry may have lead in it; that’s why we’re here, ” Berriesford said. “A lot of the industry has been aware of it for years (and not sold it), but there may be some outliers.”

Wickert Beasley of Intrinsic Precision Body Jewelry in San Francisco said that as long as consumers buy made-in-America body-piercing accessories, they should be safe.

Cool Tongue Jewelry, The Wound Can Become Infected Which Can Lead To Serious Consequences Including Blood Poisoning And Death From Septic Shock

“Domestically made jewelry is almost in every case made out of the best material, but there’s been a flood of jewelry from oversees where labor costs are just a fraction of what they are here, ” and where standards are lower, he said.

Berriesford said state testing of children’s jewelry in California since Sept. 1 found 18 percent to 20 percent was contaminated with high levels of lead. Given those numbers, he’s assuming adult jewelry is being sold with lead in it, too.

“Body-piercing jewelry may have lead in it; that’s why we’re here, ” Berriesford said. “A lot of the industry has been aware of it for years (and not sold it), but there may be some outliers.”

Wickert Beasley of Intrinsic Precision Body Jewelry in San Francisco said that as long as consumers buy made-in-America body-piercing accessories, they should be safe.

Cool Tongue Jewelry, The Wound Can Become Infected Which Can Lead To Serious Consequences Including Blood Poisoning And Death From Septic Shock

“Domestically made jewelry is almost in every case made out of the best material, but there’s been a flood of jewelry from oversees where labor costs are just a fraction of what they are here, ” and where standards are lower, he said.