Jewelry For Bridesmaids

BANGALORE | Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:36am EDT

BANGALORE (Reuters) - U.S. consumer product safety regulators told manufacturers of children's jewelry and toys they could develop their own safety standards for cadmium levels in products, media reports said on Wednesday.

Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) allowed manufacturers to set the safety standards, it proposed a more rigorous testing to measure cadmium exposure, according to the reports.

The presence of cadmium, a toxic metal, in children's toys has led to product recalls in the past.

In June, McDonald's Corp recalled 12 million "Shrek"-themed drinking glasses from its restaurants across the United States after the CPSC warned consumers to stop using them because they contained cadmium.

However, based on the CPSC's newly recommended guidelines, the McDonald's recall would not have been necessary, the Wall St Journal said.

On Tuesday the CPSC recommended a "migration approach," in which measures of cadmium are based on the amount a child is exposed to when sucking on or swallowing a product, according to several media reports.

The Fashion Jewelry and Accessories Trade Association (FJATA) said in a statement it was pleased the CPSC is relying on such an approach to measure cadmium exposure, although it had technical concerns regarding the validity and practicality of lengthy test times.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by David Holmes)

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