After a major recall of Chinese toys by US giant Mattel, Britain’s biggest toy store, Hamleys, has withdrawn from sale children’s jewellery imported from China that contained levels of lead that can potentially cause brain damage and even kill.
Paul Currie, trading director at Hamleys, has announced an immediate investigation and the withdrawal from sale of the two products that tested positive for lead.
“High levels of lead in children’s jewellery are totally unacceptable because this is a product that comes into contact with children,” he was quoted as saying.
Of 24 items of children’s jewellery bought in London and Birmingham, eight tested positive for high levels of lead, The Sunday Times claimed on Sunday.
Six items had one or more components with more than 80 per cent lead, compared with a recommended international safety limit of 0.06 per cent.
Among the items that had high levels of the metal were two from Hamleys in Regent Street, central London, containing more than 93 per cent lead, and two from Monsoon, a high street fashion chain.
Chinese manufacturers are suspected of recycling lead from discarded computers for use in children’s jewellery, the daily said.
Millions of children’s fashion trinkets containing high levels of the metal have already been recalled worldwide. Chewing or swallowing jewellery with high levels of lead can cause neurological damage in children or in rare cases kill.
The warning over children’s toxic jewellery comes after the toy giant Mattel last week recalled millions of Chinese-made toys amid fears over lead levels in paint, and loose magnets. It was the latest in a series of alerts that has largely been driven by American regulatory authorities, including warnings over items of children’s jewellery.
Senior figures in the jewellery industry say one of the reasons for the use of lead in children’s trinkets in the UK is there are no specific regulations on the levels permitted.Lead levels are strictly controlled in toys and even a watch should not contain more than 0.1 per cent the metal.
Tests over the past four weeks suggest the sale of children’s jewellery containing lead in the UK is widespread. Lead castings in jewellery are typically plated.  This significantly reduces the risk of the metal being absorbed into the bloodstream, unless the product is chipped, chewed or swallowed.
Dippal Manchanda, technical director of the Birmingham Assay Office, the laboratory that conducted the tests, said: “The findings from the samples submitted are worrying.
“Although there is no intention for the components to be sucked or chewed, (they could) cause major harm if a child were to put them in its mouth.”