CPSIA - ABC News Wants to Know About Your Cadmium Poisoning

ABC News is doing a real public service - they are calling for childhood cadmium poisoning victims to come forward. Here's their invitation:

"Has Your Child Suffered From Cadmium Poisoning? Share your story … Toxic Cadmium in childrens' jewelry poses risk to kids' health.

Cadmium is a highly toxic metal that is appearing more and more in jewelry and toys imported from China. Dangerous effects of ingested cadmium include kidney, bone, lung and liver disease. Kids are especially at risk for complications because of their size and the likelihood that they will suck on or swallow toys or jewelry containing cadmium. Has your child suffered from cadmium poisoning? Did your family have a cadmium poisoning scare? Share your story with ABCnews.com."

I would like to know about those victims, too. So far, there are NO reported childhood injuries from cadmium in children's products that I am aware of. Zero. Of course, it is also a gripe of mine that there are no identified childhood injury victims from lead-in-substrate in children's products either. That's an even more serious issue and a real indictment of the CPSIA. Where are the victims???

I have no idea which side of the issue ABC News is on. I am willing to assume they are curious about the data, which is what a real reporter should care about. What if they get no responses - does that resolve the matter? Probably not, but then again, isn't the absence of injuries important data to consider? And if they DO get case histories, then what? They need to share them and allow the data to be examined. If this is a real health problem, then let's take it seriously and try to understand what has been revealed.

The time for product slander is over - let's look at the real data and make some intelligent decisions.