Enviro Bro Interviews California Toxics Control Director

EnviroBro will be joined by Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) Acting Director Maziar Movassaghi to discuss the discovery of lead in children's jewelry that was being sold at retail stores in California. The show will broadcast live Thursday, May 7 from 10:00am until 11:00am on Sacramento Radio Station KDEE 97.7 FM and Kddefm.org (click on listen live). Listeners are invited to call in during the show with questions and comments at (916) 631-8599 and email inquiries

DTSC discovered the jewelry in six locations (mainly distributor/importer warehouses) in southern California. An analysis by the DTSC Environmental Chemistry Lab found that children’s wooden angel pendant necklaces contained 736,000 parts per million (ppm) lead (nearly 74% lead). Another example is an adult turquoise stone pendant necklace that contained 710,000 ppm of lead. The jewelry containing high lead concentrations included items with religious images, such as medallions and crosses, which some people tend to kiss while praying.


On September 22, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed California’s Lead-Containing Jewelry Law (Assembly Bill 1681). It went into effect on September 1, 2007. The law limits the amount of lead in children’s jewelry to either 200 ppm (0.02%) or 660 ppm (0.06%) depending on the component used. The law has since been extended to limit lead in adult and body-piercing jewelry, as well as to include watches and detachable clothing and shoe ornaments. The "Going Green With EnviroBro Radio Show", the first "green" radio show on an urban radio station in the nation, is dedicated to providing its listeners with the "green" information that will affect them; their families and their pocketbook.