After reading about how CA decided to regulate the amount of cadmium present in children's gold jewelry (but not adult's gold jewelry because evidently they can just go ahead and die?), I'm wondering what brands are actually cadmium free.
The only site I've seen explicitly list themselves as being cadmium free is Baublebar. I emailed several brands that don't mention it and most haven't responded. Some have said they just don't know.
I talked to some jewelry artisans I know and evidently it really comes down to supplier. Rio Grande supplies gold that's cadmium free, but a lot of other suppliers don't. The cadmium is used to alter the color of the gold and is also used in solder a lot, so it's usually present in rose gold or champagne gold pieces that are soldered. Evidently it can be used in yellow gold too though. Recycled gold often has a higher percentage of cadmium due to the higher percentage of solder in it.
There's no non-destructive test for cadmium too, so all the pieces in my collection are now suspect.
The only site I've seen explicitly list themselves as being cadmium free is Baublebar. I emailed several brands that don't mention it and most haven't responded. Some have said they just don't know.
I talked to some jewelry artisans I know and evidently it really comes down to supplier. Rio Grande supplies gold that's cadmium free, but a lot of other suppliers don't. The cadmium is used to alter the color of the gold and is also used in solder a lot, so it's usually present in rose gold or champagne gold pieces that are soldered. Evidently it can be used in yellow gold too though. Recycled gold often has a higher percentage of cadmium due to the higher percentage of solder in it.
There's no non-destructive test for cadmium too, so all the pieces in my collection are now suspect.
