This review compares United States, Canadian, and European Union rules on metals in toys and low-cost jewelry. United States and Canadian rules emphasize lead, with additional migratable limits for several elements in paint and coatings and with cadmium provisions for jewelry. The European directive is described as covering 19 elements and separating hexavalent chromium and organic tin, but the numeric European migration table is not printed in the review. The authors recommend mandatory total-metal screening followed by voluntary bioaccessibility testing. They do not state a numeric limit of their own.
Key numbers
Figures below are copied as printed. Units are not converted. Species are not merged.
| Analyte | What was reported | Value | Unit | Basis | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sb | 60 mg.kg−1 for Sb | 60 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| As | 25 mg.kg−1 for As | 25 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Ba | 1000 mg.kg−1 for Ba | 1000 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Cd | 75 mg.kg−1 for Cd | 75 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Cr | 60 mg.kg−1 for Cr | 60 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Pb | 90 mg.kg−1 for Pb | 90 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Hg | 60 mg.kg−1 for Hg | 60 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Se | 500 mg.kg−1 for Se | 500 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F963-08, stated as the same as EN 71-3, p. 2 |
| Pb | allowable amount of Pb in children’s metal jewelry to 300 mg.kg−1 as of August 2009 | 300 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | CPSIA section 101(a), p. 2 |
| Pb | maximum allowable amount of Pb in paint and surface coating has been limited to 90 mg.kg−1 in Section 101 (f) of | 90 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | CPSIA section 101(f), p. 2 |
| Pb | all toys and children’s products containing Pb in excess of 100 mg.kg−1 became banned hazardous substances | 100 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | CPSIA, as of 14 August 2011, p. 2 |
| Pb | ASTM standard F2923-11 on children’s jewelry limits the presence of total Pb to 100 mg.kg−1 in jewelry | 100 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F2923-11, p. 2 |
| Cd | a limit for total Cd concentration has been introduced as 300 mg.kg−1 | 300 | mg/kg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F2923-11, p. 2 |
| Cd | total migratable limit is stated as 200 μg | 200 | μg | as printed in the legislation summary | ASTM F2923-11, p. 2 |
The structured evidence record for this source holds 30 copied values. The table above is the short set.
Methods (brief)
Legal texts and standards summarized include the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, ASTM F963-08, ASTM F2923-11, CPSC-CH-E1004-11, Canada’s Hazardous Products Act H-3 and toy regulations, EN 71-3, Council Directive 88/378/EEC, and Directive 2009/48/EC. The scientific-literature section discusses published content and migration studies and is not extracted into the ledger.
Evidence fitness
A comparison of legal limits for lead and other elements in toys, paints, and children’s jewelry in the United States and Canada, with the statement that ASTM F963-08 migratable coating limits match EN 71-3. It also states that EU Directive 2009/48/EC sets migration limits for 19 elements in three toy-material categories, without printing those 19 concentrations.
It does not provide the authors’ own measurements of metals in toys or jewelry. Occurrence and bioaccessibility numbers from the studies it cites are not copied. It does not print the numeric migration table of Directive 2009/48/EC. Its own recommendation is a two-step testing approach and a priority element list, not a new numeric concentration limit.
Limitations
The review was published in 2012 and describes some limits as recently changed or still in preparation, including a Canadian total cadmium limit of 130 mg/kg that had not yet been established. Chromium in the eight-element coating list is printed as Cr, while the 2009 EU directive is said to separate Cr(III) and Cr(VI) without giving the numbers. The authors’ recommendation assumes 100 percent bioaccessibility for a future total-metal screen but does not assign milligram-per-kilogram values.
Related evidence
Update history
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