Concerns over toxic lead levels in jewelry have led to the recent development of standards regarding lead content at state and federal levels . A brief summary of the standards specifically affecting jewelry sold in the United States is offered below by TierraCast, Inc., manufacturer of cast pewter jewelry components in Santa Rosa, California. This information is being provided to help inform jewelry sellers and consumers.

State Level

Following its recent successful lawsuit against major retailers for failure to properly label potentially hazardous jewelry items marketed to children, the state of California enacted CA Health & Safety Code Section 25214.1. The new legislation regulates lead content in a variety of materials, and establishes clearly defined lead content standards for “children’s jewelry” and all other types of jewelry. Information regarding how lead content is measured, and a definition of “parts per million” (ppm) can be found at TierraCast’s website.

The aspects relating to metal jewelry components can be summarized as follows:
Details of the law and commentary about testing and compliance are available through the State of California’s web page, by searching for “Lead in Jewelry”.

As a state law, this legislation sets the most stringent limits currently in force in the nation. It phases in limits of maximum lead content levels of .06% (600 ppm) for "children's jewelry" and between 1.5% (1,500 ppm) and 10% (10,000 ppm) for all other types. The new law is applicable to any product manufactured, shipped to or sold in California, at all levels of commerce – wholesale, retail, online, etc. Failure to comply may result in penalties of up to $2,500 per day per violation.

Following this trend, other states have either passed or are currently considering similar legislation. While most of these states appear to be using the same limit of 600 ppm lead, there are notable exceptions where legislation has been introduced setting levels as low as 10 ppm. The states with legislation currently in effect or in the works include Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington.

Federal Level

With the adoption of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008, the United States federal government set standards for lead content in children's jewelry previously only set by a few of the individual states. Children's jewelry is defined as that marketed to children 12 years of age or younger. CPSIA does not set federal limits on lead levels in jewelry marketed to other age levels.

Orignially developed as House Resolution 404, the new CPSIA regulations went into effect on February 10, 2009 and now sets the lead content levels for children's jewelry to 600 ppm until August 2009, at which time the levels are mandated to be reduced to 300 ppm.

If deemed technically feasible, that level will drop again to 100 ppm as of August 2011.

These standards specifically prohibit the consideration of plating or painting over the metals in chidlren's jewelry as an effective means of preventing access to metal whose lead content is above the set standard.


* TierraCast offers this information as a public service and believes that it is substantially true and correct. It is provided to aid the consumer, but it is not expert legal advice and should not be relied upon as such by individuals or businesses in their efforts to comply with current legislation in any country, nor to satisfy themselves of the safety of any given item.